


In Your Shoes

by acoolusername



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-13 03:26:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9104602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acoolusername/pseuds/acoolusername
Summary: After an encounter with a strange device found at a crime scene, Kara and Alex switch bodies, and find out what it's like to walk (and fly) in each other's shoes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea was too tempting not to write. It is not connected to my other works. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Nope, still own none of this.

_Boom_.

Alex didn’t even flinch as Kara landed hard behind her. She did look over her shoulder though, and beckoned her over.

“Take a look at this,’ she urged.

Kara almost skipped over, squeezing past DEO agents, muttering an apology as she did so. She knelt down beside her sister, and examined the dead body that was wedged underneath the car.

“Liberian,’ Kara said regretfully. ‘They look at lot like Maxsheens, except for their fins – see?’

Alex reached out with a gloved hand, and ran a finger along the spiky fin protruding from the back of the alien’s head. “I’ll get them to add the species to our catalogue. Although I think after this we’re just going to have to get you to sit down and write down all the species you remember. We need a more comprehensive archive. Then I wouldn’t need to call you out all the time.”

“I don’t mind helping,’ Kara smiled.

“Yeah I know, but didn’t you say you have a meeting today?’

“It’s was just an interview with Lena. I moved it to tomorrow.”

Alex glanced at her quickly, before retuning her attention to the body. It was lying underneath a pick-up truck. It was wearing all black, obviously adhering to the human standard of wearing all leathers when riding a motorcycle. The Ducati was nearby, banged up and dented. It had made Alex’s heart hurt a little to see such a beautiful machine in such a condition.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean for you to reschedule your whole day. I just needed an ID, really. Cause of death is pretty cut and dry but won’t be determined until an autopsy, but we’re still looking into things. If you need to be somewhere else…”

Kara opened her mouth to answer, but her head jerked suddenly to the left, and her expression hardened. Alex wondered what she can hear, but doesn’t ask.

“Go,’ she urged. ‘We’ll handle this.”

“Are you sure?’

“ _Go_.”

Kara lifted off the ground, hovered for a moment to say, ‘Call me if you need anything else,’ and then shot off into the air. Alex blinked against the gust of wind, then turned back to the scene.

Alex spent the next few minutes on all fours, crawling underneath the truck looking for clues, when familiar black boots appeared in her peripheral vision.

“Is now the time to make a joke about how I enjoy seeing you in this position?’

Alex smiled, rolled her eyes and crawled back out from underneath the truck. Maggie was standing over her, arms folded over her chest, with a smirk on her face. Her hair was tied up in her “work” pony, and her too-big-for-her bomber jacket hung off her like a kid wearing her father’s coat.

“Only if you want to have your ass kicked, Sawyer,’ Alex retorted.

Maggie just chuckled, and held out a hand to help Alex to her feet. “So… what have we got?”

Alex gestured for her to follow, and began to explain what had happened; DEO intercepted the call to emergency services (like they did with most calls). The driver of the pick-up had called it in, saying she had hit the alien completely by accident. The woman reported that the alien had come out of no-where, streaming around the corner on its motorbike at top speed, and she’d had no time to stop.

“I saw the skid marks,’ Maggie pointed back down the alley. ‘And I found this…”

From her jacket, Maggie produced a large, plastic evidence bag, containing some sort of metal object that looked something like a controller for a gaming console.

“Thought maybe you’d like to swap?’ Maggie offered Alex the bag. ‘I’ll take the crime scene, you work out what the hell the weird alien device is in your weird alien lab.”

“Sounds like a fair trade.”

Alex held the bag up to eye-level, examining the object inside. It was shiny and chrome, with two little glass plates on either side, just big enough for a thumbprint to be scanned. Alex’s mind was already buzzing over the possibilities of what the object is, when she felt Maggie punch her softly on the arm, bringing her back to reality.

“You’re adorable when you geek out,’ Maggie smirked. ‘See you tonight?’

Not waiting for a response, Maggie slapped Alex on the behind and headed back toward the scene. Alex smiled to herself, until she noticed nearby DEO agents giving her a glance.

She gave them such a death glare that they all cleared their throats and quickly looked away.

 

\----- 

 

Kara flew back into the DEO later that afternoon. She exchanged a few pleasantries with the agents who were darting around here and there, before heading to the central control area and trotting up behind the familiar, hunched shoulders of Winn Schott.

“Another bank saved,’ she beamed, swinging her arms happily.

“Makes you wonder why they even bother anymore,’ Winn leant back in his chair, one hand still typing away on his keyboard. ‘I saw the whole thing on the security footage. Did that one guy really come at you with a crowbar?’

Kara winced. ‘I warned him. I think his arm is still shaking.”

Winn reached up and gently moved the ends of Kara’s hair away from her jaw; the same place she had been struck by the bar. “Should know better than to mess with my girl.”

She laughed and batted his hand away. ‘Is Alex back yet?’

Winn jerked a thumb over his shoulder, and turned back to his computer. “In the lab, doing… lab stuff.”

Giving his shoulder a quick squeeze, Kara flicked her cape out and headed down the familiar path to her sister’s lab. As Winn promised, Alex was bent over a microscope, brown hair falling around her face. Kara quietly amused herself, musing how hilarious it was to watch Alex look into a microscope; she always had this stance, like a runner at the starting line, bent and ready for the starting gun.

“Hey,’ Kara sighed happily, closing the glass door behind her. ‘How did everything go after I left?’

“Maggie showed up,’ Alex didn’t look up from the microscope, but Kara could still see the smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. ‘It’s getting sorted. She’s going to text me if anything comes up.”

Kara curled her tongue around her tooth, and raised her eyebrows. “Uh-huh.”

“How did all your superheroing go?’

She filled Alex in on the bank robbery, as well the bus explosion on the interstate, the crane that got caught in the powerlines, and the tow truck that flipped on the bridge. Alex nodded and hmm’d, and told her not to touch that and “pass the pen”.

“What are you looking at there?’ Kara asked.

Alex finally looked up from the microscope, rubbed her eyes and wrote something down on the notebook beside her. “Recovered from the scene today. It’s got markings on the outside, I was just having a closer look.”

“Need me to translate? I know a little Liberian.”

“I was going to give it to Winn, but if you think you can…’

Alex took the silver, controller-shaped object from under the scope and handed it to Kara.

That’s when it happened.

In the same exact second Kara touched it, the world lost focus. Kara shut her eyes, feeling suddenly so dizzy she felt she might actually be sick. There was a loud roaring in her ears, and a jolt in her stomach like she’d been pitched forward… and then it stopped.

“Ugh,’ Kara groaned. Her head was throbbing’ her brain felt like it was banging around on the inside of her skull, trying to bust out. ‘What the heck… Alex, are you okay?’

“No,’ said a voice that wasn’t Alex. ‘Kara, open your eyes.”

Kara did so.

Then she shut her eyes again, and squeezed them tight, certain she’s seeing things. She rubbed them until there were spots in the blackness, and then opened them again.

Supergirl was standing in front of her, looking scared and confused. And despite Kara’s initial disbelief, it is definitely her; the same face Kara looks at every morning in the mirror. The girl in front of her was staring at Kara, open mouthed, before looking down at herself.

Kara did the same. Except when she looked down she didn’t see a big ‘S’, or a red skirt or boots. She was looking at all black; a utility belt hanging from her hips…

“What - …’ Kara clamped her mouth shut, muffling the voice that isn’t her own. She ran a hand through her hair. It ended just below her ears. She glanced back at the woman in front of her. ‘ _Alex_?’

“Oh no,’ Alex shook her head and waved her hands in denial. ‘No no _no_ …”

It’s disbelief, plain and simple. Kara opened and closed her eyes a few more times, just to convince herself that she wasn’t hallucinating.  

“How…’ Kara held her hand up in front of her face. They were the hands that had wiped away tears in the middle of the night. They’re the hands that always gripped her so tightly in the midst of a hug. Hands that had passed her potstickers and pizza across the table; hands that she knew almost as well as her own. ‘Did we just…”

“Stop talking,’ Alex held a finger up, still this time, right in Kara’s face. She was staring right back at her; Kara could see the cogs whirling away inside her head.

Alex knelt down to pick the device up from the floor. As she stood, she almost tripped on the cape trailing behind her. She held the chrome item up for Kara to look at. “Did you touch the little thumb scanner here?’

“Uh… I don’t know.” Kara rubbed her head. Her ears were still ringing. And now that she had noticed that, she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder also.

“That must be what this device does,’ Alex holds the device up to eye-level, one blue eye shut. ‘It… it swapped us.”

Kara laughed flatly. “Gee, you think?’

“But how…”

“It doesn’t matter, give it back,’ Kara gestured, waving her hand impatiently. ‘We can’t stay like this.”

Without argument, Alex held the device out for Kara to take. Like before, and making sure to place her thumb back in the same spot, Kara wrapped her hand around the other end.

Nothing happened.

“Wait,’ Kara urged, ‘let me try again.”

She let go completely, then took the device in her hand again. And again, nothing happened.

“Rao help us,’ Kara groaned.

Alex put the device down on the bench, quickly – too quickly for Kara to see. Alex stared at Kara with wide eyes. Kara felt for the stool behind her and sat down heavily. Now that the shock was wearing off, she was beginning to noticing how tired she felt. Alex body was exhausted.

“What do we do?’ Kara breathed after a long moment.

Alex didn’t answer. She was staring between the device, and her hands – Kara’s hands.

“ _Alex_!”

She blinked, the haze evaporating from her eyes. Alex looked around at her sister – at herself – and straightened up, and squinted, suddenly looking like she was getting a migraine.

“I need you to go get Winn.”

“What? Why?’

“I’ll explain when he gets here, just go. But don’t tell him what’s happened!”

“Alex, I don’t…”

“Kara, please!”

Kara sighed and got to her feet. Her legs felt wobbly as she headed to the door. She reached out and put a hand on Alex’s shoulder as she passed. She could feel her own shoulders; the texture of the leather of her cape, and the material of her suit, was such a familiar feeling. But Alex shrugged away from her, arms wrapped around herself, and just told her again to go get Winn.

The walk back through the office was a much different experience that it had been only ten minutes ago. Alex’s advice not to tell anyone was fresh on her mind, so Kara tried to act normal. She smiled at people as she passed, trying to seem casual, like everything was fine. But instead of the grins and waves she usually got in return, people’s eyes advert to the ground to avoid her gaze. Agents stood up straighter when she passed, as if they were being caught doing something wrong. Some just looked at her with uninhibited confusion, and it took Kara a long moment to realise why.

She’s Alex. And Alex doesn’t walk around grinning at everyone.

Kara pursed her lips, hoping she was morphing Alex’s face into a neutral expression.

She found Winn exactly where she had left him, still sitting at his desk. From the way he looked up at her as he whirled around in his seat, she was not succeeding in looking nonchalant.

“Hey, whoa,’ he said with a frown. ‘Everything okay?’

 _What would Alex say?_ Kara thought, before flatly stating, “I need you to come with me.”

“I didn’t do it, whatever it is…’

“Just be quiet,’ Kara urged, waving a hand, ‘and come. Please?’

Winn frowned, but got to his feet anyway. With a sigh of relief, Kara led him back toward the lab. Luckily, he didn’t ask any questions. Kara didn’t know how she would have answered them anyway.

But when they got back to the lab, she couldn’t see Alex anywhere. Kara felt her panic rise, but instead of letting it spill out, she opened her mouth to call out to her. But she didn’t even get out the first syllable, when she heard a whimper, and the sound of boots crunching on broken glass.

Kara rushed around and saw, on the other side of the bench, her own body couched down on the floor, hands over her ears.

“Kara,’ Winn made to move for her, but Kara grabbed him.

“No, keep back,’ Kara insisted.

“But she’s…”

Kara ignored him. She dropped down to her knees in front of her sister, and very carefully took her by the wrists.

“Alex,’ she whispered.

Alex flinched, like Kara had shouted. She looked up ever so slightly, her eyes darting around everywhere. Kara didn’t need to ask; she already knew what’s happening.

“I can hear…’ Alex whimpered. ‘… _everything_ …’

“I know, it’s okay,’ Kara took her own face in her hands, ignoring the feeling of how weird the sensation was. Alex eyes, her own eyes, were starting to glow in her panic. ‘I need you to focus on me. Look at me.”

“I can’t…’ her eyes clamped shut. Alex shook her head, blonde curls bouncing everywhere. ‘It hurts…”

“I know, but I need you to focus. Open your eyes, Alex. Look at me.”

“I don’t wanna hurt you…”

“You won’t hurt me. I trust you. You can do this. _Open your eyes_.”

Alex flinched again. Kara could imagine what she’s hearing: fire engines a mile away, dogs barking on the other side of town, babies screaming and people laughing and bugs crawling along the windowsill…

But slowly, she opened her eyes the tiniest bit. She squinted, and blanched in shock, and Kara was sure she could see right through her, to the tendons in her face muscles.

“Winn, pass me my spare pair of glasses, they’re in the cabinet there.”

Winn was too busy staring at them to answer right away. His eyes were wide open as his mouth as he pointed at them both, putting it all together. “You called her Alex… you’re…

“ _Winn_!”

“Right,’ He shook his head of questions and went to rummage through the draws of the cabinet Kara had pointed at.

In no time at all, he was handing her the square-framed spectacles. Kara had spare pairs stashed everywhere, in case she ever needed to change back into Kara at any given moment. But these were different. They were the original pair Jeremiah had given her when she’d first arrived on earth; the frames, like all the pairs she’d owned since, were lined with lead – they had been a godsend when thirteen-year-old Kara had been in his exact same position.

Kara snatched the glasses from Winn, and forced them onto her own face.

“Here,’ she soothed. ‘This will take the edge off.”

It did, almost instantly. When Alex opened her blue eyes again, she let out a little sigh of relief and then opened them completely; the threatening glow of heat vision evaporated.

“Now, focus on me,’ Kara insisted, still holding Alex in place. ‘Ignore everything else. Listen to my voice…”

Alex actually laughed. “ _My_ voice.”

“I know it’s hard… this is what I’ve had to listen to for twelve years, I know it hurts…”

Alex laughed again. She threw a hand out to grab onto the bench, but ripped a chunk of it off with a _crunch_.

As Kara talked to her, saying anything and everything she could think of, slowly, but surely, Alex relaxed. Kara felt her own muscles uncoil, and her breath become more steady, and she kept stroking her hair and murmuring _shh_ under her breath, until finally Alex looked up at her properly. From this, Kara knew she has it under control.

After a long moment, Alex sighed again, looking like she’d just run a marathon. She looked up at Kara in wonder. “You hear that all the time?’

“Not all the time,’ Kara brushed hair out of her face.

“Okay,’ came Winn’s voice. Both sisters looked around at him in surprise; they had forgotten he was there. ‘So… this is really happening, right? You’re Alex? And you’re Kara?’

Alex let Kara help her to her feet. “Winn…’

“This is unbelievable,’ he breathed, looking at both of them in turn with wide eyes.

“Stop oogling us,’ Alex snapped. ‘This is serious.”

“Of course,’ Winn nodded, his expression not changing in the slightest. ‘Completely serious… nothing amazing here…”

Alex clicked her fingers in his face. The force, because of Kara’s uncontrolled strength, made it sound like a whip cracking. Winn and Kara both blinked in shock.

“Sorry,’ Alex muttered, looking down at her hand.

Kara put her hand over her sister’s – over her own – and looked at Winn. “Can you work out what that device does?”

“I think it’s pretty clear what it does, Ale-… er, Kara.”

“We need you,’ Alex said impatiently, ‘to fix it. We need to get back into our own bodies as quickly as possible.”

“Right. Of course. I’ll go run some tests, add the data into the computer… Maybe J’onn can - ...”

“No,’ said Alex firmly. “you can’t tell anyone about this. Not even J’onn.”

Winn looked at them incredulously, then laughed. “You’re not serious.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?’

“No… and I’ve never seen Kara look like that…’ Winn added, throwing a worried look at Alex’s death glare, ‘but be real! You don’t really think people aren’t going to notice something off about you two?”

“No,’ Alex says flatly, pointing a stern finger, ‘because we’re not leaving this room.”

There was an awkward pause, where Kara and Winn exchanged a glance – and Kara ignored the expression on Winn’s face; he was very clearly still trying to get his head around this, and quell his excitement at the same time – and the same thought passed between them.

Kara reaches out and squeezed Alex’s arm again. The watch, facing inward on her wrist, reflected a glint of fluorescent light into her eye. “Alex, we can’t stay…”

“I can’t go out there,’ Alex insists. Kara reeled at the tone of her own voice, sounding so stern. ‘I _cant_ …’

Alex held her palms up, and frowned down at them, as if they were grotesque.

“But you guys can’t stay in here forever,’ Winn reasoned. ‘People are going to notice when you’ve both gone AWOL.”

She quickly pulled herself together, straightened up and fixed Winn with _that look_ , and Kara can see Alex shining out from underneath her own face.

“I need you,’ she said slowly, steadily, ‘to figure out what the hell happened, and how we can fix this.”

He glanced at both of them again, and then finally Winn nodded, conceding defeat. ‘I can do it. Just… give me some time.” He scooped the device up carefully, as if it were made of glass.

“And for Rao’s sake,’ Kara laughed, ‘don’t _hand_ it to anyone.”

He hurried off, throwing them both one last, excited look over her shoulder.

Kara rolled her eyes, unable to keep the smile from her face. Trust Winn to find something like this so exiting.

Kara turned her attention back to her sister. “He’s right. We can’t just hang out in here forever. What if the DEO needs us? What if there’s an emergency?”

Alex, who’s attention had been elsewhere (probably with the cry of a child or a siren she could hear in the distance) snapped back.

“If you’re suggesting that we send out some sort of company-wide memo explaining this…”

“No,’ Kara shook her head. Alex’s short hair flicked into her eye; she brushed it aside impatiently. ‘We can’t let this get out. We can’t let anyone know that Supergirl… well, isn’t Supergirl.”

Alex’s eyes widened with realization. “Please tell me you’re not suggesting…”

“We can do it!’ Kara insists. ‘Who knows each other better than us? Winn will figure this out, he always does. And until then all we have to do is… is just play the part!”

Kara could already sense it, bubbling under the surface, like a kettle coming to the boil. Alex was biting her lip, already coming up with ten different reasons that explained why this is the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard.

“Kara,’ Alex groaned in disbelief, ‘no-one is going to buy it. You’re clearly not me, and despite our current situation…’ Alex waved a hand at herself, brandishing the Supergirl costume, ‘… I’m clearly not you. And when I accidently knock a building over…”

“You can do this,’ Kara urges, taking Alex by the shoulders to give her a firm look in the eye. ‘I’ll teach you how. I can show you how to control it.”

Alex pursed her lips. After more words of encouragement, it finally took The Pout to get Alex to laugh. Kara knew it must look weird, seeing The Pout on Alex’s face reflected back at her, but she was pleased to see that its effect was no less diminished. Maybe Alex could see her shining out from underneath too.

“National City still needs Supergirl,’ Kara said finally. ‘And the DEO needs Alex Danvers. We have to play the part until Winn comes through. We _have_ to.”

“Fine,’ Alex finally concedes. ‘But if you’re going to train me, I’m going to train you.”

“What do you mean?’

“Well first of all, stand up straight. You don’t have to hunch… you’re not going to break someone’s arm.”

Kara hadn’t even realised. When she was Kara Danvers: Aspiring Reporter, she always had to try and make herself as minimal as possible. No-one would get too close to Supergirl, but invisible Kara would often get looked over – which was the point, of course, but it also meant that people could accidently get hurt if they bumped into her in the street, or the office.

Kara straightened her shoulders at Alex’s advice, and felt the muscles down her back relax. Alex’s body was clearly used to this posture. Kara already felt better.

Alex grinned at her. “And don’t smile at everyone,’ she adds.

“I don’t smile at _everyone_...”

“Yes you do, and it’s what makes you such an amazing person… but I’m not like that. I don’t notice every single in the building like you do. I didn’t even know we had a janitor until last week.”

“Harriet is lovely!”

Alex rubbed her eyes. “Why do I always let you talk me into these things? Come on, help me get out of this lab without smashing a window.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm enjoying spreading this out over a few chapters. I think it deserves to have a bit of room to breath. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Alex had always imagined that flying would be the easiest of Kara’s powers to get the hang of.

It wasn’t.

Kara had tried to throw her in the deep end, a strategy she mistakenly thought would be an effective way to teach Alex, despite Alex’s protests. Spending twelve hours a day, locked in a room with an instructor and learning to fight had been one thing – defying gravity was another.

When the two sisters had finally left the lab, and Kara and loudly proclaimed to the DEO that she was ‘… taking Supergirl out into to the desert to practice some new flight… pattern… manoeuvre things…”, she had then winked at Alex and gestured to the left, her meaning very clear –fly out the window.

“Let’s just take the car,’ Alex had said, giving her sister (minus the glasses now) a look, ‘shall we?”

This, of course, had raised some eyebrows. Since when did Supergirl want to _drive_ anywhere?

Only when they were half-way out of the city, Kara behind the wheel, did Alex finally snap, “New rule – we lay as low as possible from now on. And here’s a tip. What happened back there… is _not_ laying low!”

“I’m just trying to keep up appearances!”

“When do you ever see me call for everyone’s attention to tell them anything? Or tell them all to carry on with the good work when I leave?’

“I don’t know what you do, I’m never there when you assemble teams!”

“ _Kara_ …”

“There’s nothing wrong with being encouraging!”

Alex was relieved when they finally arrived in the desert. She got out of the car quickly, taking care to shut the rover door as slowly as possible.

“This looks like a good spot!’

Despite Alex’s annoyance, she couldn’t help but smirk. It was ridiculous to watch herself look so giddy and eager. Kara was looking up at the sky, hand shielding her eyes against the glaring afternoon sun.

“So,’ Alex asked, spreading her hands out, ‘where do we start?’

“How are you feeling?’ Kara asked, suddenly looking serious. ‘Are you still seeing through things?’

“Aside from the engine through the dash on the way here, no. That technique you mentioned really helped.” When Kara nodded, Alex added thoughtfully, ‘How are _you_ feeling? Does your shoulder hurt?’

Kara sighed. “Actually, everything hurts. But yes, now that you mention it…”

Alex explained that she had been knocked down during that raid last week, and the bruise was still taking a while to properly heal, but it was nothing to worry about. She also explained why her calves hurt (Maggie’s apartment was on the fifth floor, and her elevator was still waiting to be repaired), and where the cut on the inside of her right forearm had come from. She left out the reason for her thigh aching - she wasn't sure who would have been more embarrassed, her or Kara.

Kara looked at each injury with a frown, and Alex wondered if Kara was going to lecture her; whether she was going to give the spiel on how Alex needed to take better care of herself. But it didn’t come. Kara seemed to remember that there were more pressing matters at hand.

“Right,’ she said, finally, rubbing her hands together, ‘where do you want to start?’

For as long as she could remember, Alex had always watched Kara display her powers with a sense of pride and wonder, but she would have been lying if she said she’d never felt just the tiniest (and yes, sometimes humongous) twinge of envy. Kara could do such incredible things; how could she not feel this way? Especially as a teenager.

As Kara talked over the strategies she had used when she’d first arrived on earth, Alex tried not to let her budding eagerness show. Despite the obvious shitstorm of a situation they were in, she couldn’t deny that she was excited to at least see how it felt to have such power.

“But I think,’ Kara folded her arms over her chest, and looked at Alex up and down, ‘maybe you should just test them first and see how it feels. You need to know what the limit is, so you know when you’re about to cross the line.”

“Okay,’ Alex said slowly.

Kara pointed at a boulder not too far away. “How about you punch that as hard as you can?’

“That’s it?’

At Kara’s shrug, Alex sighed and walked over to the boulder. It was enormous, over ten feet tall, and no doubt weighed the same as about dozen of her. Alex knew Kara could do it. She’d seen Kara lift Fort Roz out of Earth’s atmosphere; some random boulder would be nothing to her.

Alex took a moment to quell the natural instinct that told her that punching a rock was a bad idea, before balling her hand into a fist and smashing her knuckles into the boulder as hard as she could.

It exploded into smithereens. Once the dust cleared and the sound of falling rubble silenced, Alex let out a laugh. There was no pain. Her knuckles tingled slightly from the impact, but that was it.

She glanced around at Kara, who had been standing well back, and laughed again. And Kara eventually joined in, and Alex hadn’t been able to help it – she went to every single boulder nearby and obliterated them.

It was incredible. And Alex knew, if she wanted, she could punch harder. She could punch a crater into the ground; crack the Earth open.

But of course she wouldn’t, no matter the temptation to see how powerful she really was. So she brushed the dirt from her shoulders, flicked out the red cape behind her, and crossed back over to her sister.

“So,’ Alex breathed, ‘what’s next?”

Alex then tried her ice breath, her heat vision (which had felt extremely weird at first, and had resulted in her almost setting Kara’s boots on fire), her x-ray vision (which in any other circumstance might have been embarrassing, but she’d seen herself naked more than enough for it not to be weird) and the hearing. Alex had blushed, hearing what had been clearly an intimate moment in a car fifty miles away.

Next was super speed. Alex was a fit enough person usually, but having the ability to run all the way into National City and back in ten seconds was definitely a rush.

Once she’d done three laps, back and forth, the landscape nothing but a blur of colour and wind that passed by, she skidded to a halt in front of Kara, chest heaving. She could feel the ridiculous smile all over her face, but she didn’t care. She felt incredible.

“Wow,’ she breathed, ‘why do you walk anywhere?’

Kara, who had been smiling at her in a knowing way, just laughed. ‘Just wait until you can do it in the air.”

Alex bit her lip and looked up at the perfect, blue sky.

“I know it looks scary,’ Kara says slowly, ‘but look, the only thing you need to worry about is falling, and even if you do you’re not going to…

 _Whoosh_.

Alex didn’t hear the rest. Her nerves had got the best of her. She jumped as hard as she could into the air, and felt her stomach drop as she went flying. A cry of surprise burst from her as she launched upward, faster than she had expected. The ground disappeared as she went higher and higher…

There was a moment of weightlessness, and then the ground was coming back toward her. The cape whipped around her as Alex went tumbling back down. She only had a few seconds to prepare herself for the impact; when she landed roughly, only just saving herself from falling on her face, she felt it ricochet through her. But like punching the boulder there wasn’t any pain in a fall that would have killed anyone else, just a feeling of shock, like the wind had been knocked out of her.

“Good,’ Kara beamed at her.

Alex got to her feet, dusting herself off. “ _Good_? I didn’t even hover!”

“It doesn’t matter,’ Kara flapped her hands at her. It looked odd; Alex couldn’t remember ever flapping her hands over anything. ‘Again!”

Determined, Alex tried again. And again. She coiled herself, tensing, and then leaped into the air as hard as she could, only to inevitably come crashing down again.

Kara didn’t let her get discouraged, just told her to try again, and again, and “jump harder” and “concentrate”.

When Alex fell for the seventeenth time in a row, landing utterly ungracefully on her face this time, she got to her feet and brushed Kara’s long hair out of her face with an annoyed swipe.

“It shouldn’t be this hard,’ Alex finally snapped.

“It’s not,’ Kara explained patiently. ‘You’re just overthinking it. Flying is about feeling the air beneath you, and the wind in your hair. You need to stop thinking and let go.”

It sounded wishy washy. Alex wanted to prod her for more details. She wanted the science behind it. How does her body, which is so molecularly dense, manage to resist the pull of Eath’s gravity? What does her body actually physical _do_ to remain airborne?

But Alex didn’t ask for two reasons. One, because she knew Kara will not be able to answer. And two, because Kara had been flying a lot longer than her; it was second nature to her. And if that’s what she suggesting was the key to all this, then Alex could come to no other conclusion that she would have to try and do as her little sister said. After all, she’d been trying if her way for almost half an hour, and nothing had happened.

So Alex tried again. She took a few slow, deep breaths, and cleared her mind. She bent down, eyes locked on the blue expanse above her, and jumped into the air. She felt herself rise up, and up, and closed her eyes and tried to let go.

The feeling changed; she felt weightless again as she reached the summit, but the drop in her stomach didn’t come. Alex opened her eyes and looked down.

She was floating.

Down below, she could see the tiny, black dot jumping up and down. Alex reached out with her super hearing; she could hear the crunch of black books against dirt, a heartbeat thumping away, and Kara laughing and shouting “ _Yes!”_

“Okay,’ Alex sighed, swallowing her nerves back. She was very high up after all. ‘Okay, slow and steady…”

It was the power that had always fascinated Alex the most. Of course, she’d been flying with Kara before, hanging off her shoulders as they skimmed over the city at night. But this… this was something else.

As she flew around in slow circles, her confidence grew. Alex pushed the envelope, and tried to get herself to move upward. As soon as she had the hang of this, she upped the stakes and began flying higher, and faster, reveling in the feeling on the wind in her hair and the feeling of weightlessness.

Half an hour later, Alex finally landed, thumping down in that pose that Kara always arrived with. Kara clapped as she practically skipped over to her.

“See?’ Kara grinned. ‘I _knew_ you could do it! How did it feel?’

“What a rush,’ Alex said, breathless.

“Right?’ Kara smiles, looking lovingly at her.

Alex grabbed Kara’s wrist (taking care to keep her mind about her and not grip or twist too hard) and turned it inward to look at her own watch. The rush of adrenaline pumping through her body began to calm a little as she realized the time.

She reached around Kara, into her holster, and put her glock in Kara’s hand.

“Your turn,’ she smirked.

Kara was, unsurprisingly, bad at shooting a gun. Alex was patient, however. She talked her through the proper way to grip the gun, warned her about the kick back after firing, told her to drop her shoulders and breathe through the shot. She ran back to National City, grabbed some tin cans out of a random bin, and zoomed back to set them up for Kara to practice with.

“Do I really need to know how to do this?’

“ _Yes_ ,’ Alex insisted. ‘We’re not going to be like this forever… if Winn can figure all this out, anyway… but you need to know how to defend yourself and my body. I don’t want to get it back and have to deal with bullets wounds, thank you very much. Now, take aim.”

Kara emptied an entire clip, hitting nothing but air. Alex ignored the impatient click of her tongue, and the defeated slump in her shoulders; she showed Kara how to reload, and instructed her to try again.

Alex watched Kara shoot, and felt a twinge of sympathy. She could appreciate how hard it must be for her, having to deal with not just having no powers, but being in a body that isn’t hers as well. Alex could certainly empathize, at least a little. Kara’s body was just so different. Even though they were the same height, it moved differently to her own. Her hair was longer, and Alex kept having to flick it out away from her neck, annoyed at the feel of it hanging around her throat. Kara’s red, Supergirl boots feel awkward. She keeps getting caught up in the cape. It was a little unsettling to feel no pain or discomfort anywhere, especially when she was so used to at least her muscles groaning with fatigue after a long day at work. Alex had fallen from great heights, and punched through solid objects, and still felt almost nothing.

 _Bang_.

One of the cans went flying as Kara finally hit her mark.

Kara fist-pumped, and lets out a satisfied “Yes!’ in a low growl. Alex pursed her lips, and opened her mouth to tell her to do it again, when their cell phones buzz.

“A building fire,’ Alex read, and looked up at Kara.

Kara nodded to her. “Go. You can do it.”

Alex tried to smother her apprehension. “Kara…”

“It’s a bad fire,’ Kara continued. ‘They could use you.”

Kara looked at her in such a way that Alex’s need not to let her down finally outweighed her anxiety. She jumped slightly, and hovered a few feet above the ground with a wobbly stance. Hovering was definitely harder than flat-out flying.

“You’ll be fine,’ Kara smiled. ‘Go. I’ll head back to the DEO and find out if Winn has anything yet. You can meet me there later.”

With a sigh, Alex concentrated on her movements and urged herself upward. She soared into the air, and after a moment of disorientation she was streaking back over the desert toward the city.

She arrived at the building fire quickly, the combination of a tail wind and her super speed getting her there in no time at all. Kara had been right – it was bad. Flames were billowing out of the south corner of the skyscraper. People were screaming. The firefighter’s ladders aren’t tall enough to reach. The water from the hose is falling short.

“ _Supergirl_!’

Alex looked down. The fire fighters were waving at her, and she shakily descended a little.

“There’s ten civilians still in there!’ one of them shouted. "We’ve called in air support, but they won’t get here in time. You have to get them out."

Alex nodded. “Right.” As she flew back up toward the hole in the building, she muttered softly under her breath, “ _You can do this_ ”.  

Despite everything, all too soon her instinct began to take over. She didn’t think twice about stepping inside through the smashed windows. Kara’s body seemed to have a mind of its own; it stepped right into the fire. Alex could feel the flames licking all over, but felt no pain or burning, only a soft, warm heat like standing by a crackling fireplace.

“H-help,’ coughed a soft voice somewhere.

Alex squared her shoulders, flicked hair out of her eye, and walked through the fire.

 

\-----

 

Winn was wearing safety goggles, even though all he was doing was typing away at a computer.

Kara put a hand on his shoulder, and leant in to look at the screen. “How’s it going?’

“Good. I was just about to call - …. _Oh_ ,’ he blinked as he looked at her, and his expression softened. ‘Oh, right… it’s you…”

Kara smiled warmly at him. “You forgot,”

“Until you smiled like that,’ he tapped the end of her nose playfully, ‘and let me get away with _that_. Alex would have had me in a headlock by now.”

“Do you think I should? If I need to keep up appearances…”

“So I’ve been analyzing this thing…’ Winn said quickly, turning back to the computer; beside it, the device that had forced the sisters to swap bodies was plugged in. ‘And you don’t need me to tell you what it does, obviously… but damn, it is _fascinating_. It breaks down on a molecular level…”

“Winn,’ Kara cut him off politely.

“Right, sorry. Anyway long story short, I figured out why you couldn’t switch back.”

“Why?’

Winn turned around in his seat, looking smug. “The batteries are flat.”

Kara just looked at him. “Are you kidding me?’

“This thing is good for only one swap at a time. But luckily for us, it’s designed to reset itself and cycle back up so you can eventually change back.”

“That’s good news,’ Kara sighed with relief. ‘Alex needs a massage or something. She has this knot right here…’ Kara stretched her neck. ‘Anyway, how long until its charged?’

“According to my calculations…’ Winn sucked on his tooth thoughtfully, tilting his head back and forth, ‘… about forty-eight hours.”  

“And we have to wait for it to be fully charged?’

Winn bared his teeth, looking awkward. “Yeeeeah. I would not recommend trying to change back without it being at full power. Something could go very wrong. You could get stuck half way… or there could be half of you stuck between…”

“Okay,’ Kara held a hand up for him to stop. ‘Okay, I get it. Two days? We can do that.’ At Winn’s sudden change of expression, Kara frowned. ‘What? You don’t think I can be Alex?’

“Oh,’ Winn purses his lips, closes his eyes and nods in earnest. ‘Of course you can. _Of_ _course_.”

“I can be Alex,’ Kara insisted, pointing at herself. To emphasize her point, she stood up straighter and folded her arms over her chest in what, she knew, was a pose that was very Alex. ‘I have to pretend to be two different people all the time! And who knows Alex better than me?’

“Agent Danvers?’

Winn gestured with a jerk of his head, and whispered “He’s talking to you.”

“Huh?’

Kara whirled around. A timid-looking agent was standing there, looking at her curiously.

“Yes,’ Kara cleared her throat. ‘That’s me. I’m Agent Danvers.”

The agent frowned slightly. ‘We need you in the lab. The bloodwork from the Niamche came back.”

“Right,’ Kara nodded, remembering the alien she had help bring in two days earlier. ‘Yes. I will be there in a minute. Thank you for telling me.”

“You’re welcome?’ The agent replied, still looking confused before heading off.

Kara rubbed her eyes. “Rao help me, what am I going to do? I don’t know anything about biology! It’s all numbers and gibberish to me!”

“What are you talking about?’ Winn said, trying too hard to be serious. ‘You can do it, right? Who knows Alex better than you? Just go in there and do something smart.”

Kara wanted to say that the smartest thing she could do would be to not go in there at all, but this entire plan had been her idea, and she didn’t want to give anyone the gratification of knowing that it had blown up in her face.

So she just punched Winn in the arm – finding satisfaction both in the way she could put as much power into it as she wanted and he didn’t explode, and the way he cried out in pain and rubbed the spot where her knuckles at struck – and followed the path of the agent, back to the lab.

As it turned out, there were a lot of questions being thrown around that apparently only Alex was deemed qualified to answer. There was a whole team of people in the lab now. And not only did they want Kara to look at the blood work, but, among other things, to also give her opinion on the glucose levels of a Marndenth egg incubating away in the lab, to sign six different forms to finalize the release of an alien in containment they thought had come in with a volatile disease, but had only turned out to be a cold, and to read incident reports from the mission that morning involving a raid of an underground black market.

“Right,’ Kara nodded now, trying to look serious as she read over the graphs on a clipboard she had just been handed. ‘This is…’

“It doesn’t make sense,’ said the lab assistant.

“Yes, that’s also what I thought.”

“I presumed it was just the white blood cells, but these spikes here…’ she pointed out the little points along the red line, and looked at Kara with a curious frown, ‘… well, you’re the bio major, ma’am. What do you think?’

“I think…’ Kara bit her lip. The lab assistant was waiting. ‘… that this requires some thought. I’m going to take this home and look it over.”

“Er… okay. I’ll just go make a copy of this then?’

Kara patted her on the arm. “Thank you, that would be great.”

“Agent Danvers,’

She only just managed not to roll her eyes. Kara just wanted to get out of there before she made even more of an idiot of herself, but she realised before she spun around to face the person who had called out to her, that she recognized that deep voice and already knew who it was.

“J’onn!”

 _This is it_ , Kara thought madly, her heart slamming away in her chest. _It’s all over. He’s going to know. He’s going to figure it out. He can read minds for Rao’s sake!_

J’onn frowned as he approached. ‘Are you alright?’

“Yes,’ Kara croaked. She cleared her throat, cursing inwardly. ‘I’m fine. Just fine. How are you?’

His hands went to his hips. ‘You look flustered.”

Kara shook her head.

“How did things go with Supergirl?’ he asked. ‘I heard you took her out into the desert for some tests?’

“Just seeing how the… er, effect of the… solar flare…’ Kara remembered quickly, how she’d heard some of the people in the lab yesterday had mentioned there would be solar flares, ‘… affected her strength.”

“And?”

“Nothing. Everything is fine.”

“Where is she now?”

“Attending a fire downtown.”

J’onn’s chin tilted upward, and Kara felt as though he could see right through her. She straightened her shoulders and met his gaze, determined not to let herself be seen behind Alex’s face.

Eventually, he glanced at his watch. “It’s the end of your shift, shouldn’t you be heading home?’

Kara pointed at him. ‘Yes. Let me just go grab my things.”

She could barely hide her relief, even as he followed her to the locker room. J’onn waited for her outside as Kara headed straight for Alex’s locker. She knew which one it was, even without the name _Danvers_ stuck on the front. But she didn’t know the combination to the lock.

Kara tried a few different numbers, and finally the combination of all their birth dates (and Kara’s arrival date; her actual birthday was still a mystery to them) was the key, and when the lock sprang free, Kara quickly gathered up Alex’s jacket.

“All set?’ J’onn asked when she emerged. When she just nodded, he said, “Good. I’ll walk you down to the garage.”

The Garage?

And then it hit her. She wasn’t going to be able to fly home. Alex couldn’t fly – but she could ride.

Alex’s Ducati was parked underneath the building, between a Mini Cooper and an old Ford Mustang. J’onn had made small talk on the ride down in the elevator. It had been interesting to just listen to him talk. As close as he and Kara had become two, clearly the relationship between him and Alex was different. Alex had three years on her, after all. But it was more than that. He was just that little more relaxed, leaning against the wall of the lift as it descended. His gruff, business-like tone softened when he talked. He actually smiled a little.

But as nice as it was to see this side to him, Kara couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. It didn’t feel right. It felt invasive, somehow. He was being this way under false pretenses. If he knew that she was lying to him, that she was an impostor…

“Ride safe,’ he said, gesturing to the motorbike. Kara wondered if he always said this to Alex.

“Have a good night, J’onn,’ Kara smiled.

He gave her a tight-lipped smile and headed back toward the elevator. Kara waited until the doors shut behind him, before swinging her leg over the bike.

Knowing it was irresponsible to text and drive, Kara pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Alex. Of course, she didn’t answer. But when the voice mail greeting ended, and the beep sounded, Kara left a message.

“Hey, it’s me. Or you, which is what it will sound like,’ Kara laughed. ‘I hope you’re okay. I haven’t heard from you in a few hours. I’m heading back to your place now. I have you bike. And yes, don’t worry, I’ll ride slow. Come home when you can, Winn figured it all out. Be safe. I love you.”

Kara knew how to ride. Alex had insisted on showing her. But it had been a long while since she’d ridden, and even though there was that old earth saying that rang in the back of her mind, telling her that she was not going to forget how to do it, she still felt nervous as she retrieved the keys and put them in the ignition.

The bike started with a loud thrum; Kara felt a jolt of anxiety as it shuddered to life beneath her. But as she backed it out of the spot, put it in gear and began to move, her body seemed to relax. Alex’s knees clenched in, and her shoulders hunched, and Kara suddenly realized she had no need to worry.

When she was leaning into corners, and accelerating as red lights flashed green, with the city passing by alongside her, Kara thought that if she had to pick another way to get around the city, this would definitely be it.


	3. Chapter 3

The contents of Alex’s fridge, much to Kara’s dismay, was three quarters beer and cider.

But there was a pizza box shoved in there too, and when Kara discovered that there was still half a pepperoni left, she wasted no time in putting it in the microwave.

As she leant against the bench, glaring as she watched the neatly stacked pizza slices spin around in a circle, illuminated by a spotlight, she could think only one thought.

 _Rao, I miss my heat vision right now_.

She’d never had to use a microwave to heat food before. It was torture.

But finally the microwave went _ding_ , and Kara reached in eagerly for the food… and let out a yelp and took her hand back as the melted cheese burnt her fingers.

“Ouch!’ Kara hissed, flapping her hand.

While Kara ran her hand under the faucet, sighing in relief as the cool water sated the burn, she wondered if it would scar, and if Alex would be annoyed that she couldn’t even cook without damaging her body somehow. But then she counted all the ways the rest of the body hurt, and she realised it probably didn’t matter, and it would just be another mark on the tally of injuries that Alex sustained every day.

Kara sat herself down at the bench finally, with her pizza, and took the first glorious bite when Alex’s phone rang. She only glanced to see ‘ _Maggie’_ flash up on the screen.

 _Maggie can wait_ , she thought. _Pizza first._

The call rang out, and Kara sighed in relief and started on her second slice. What would she have been able to say to her anyway? Voice mail was a more convincing Alex than she was right now.

Kara clicked on the television, just in time to catch the end of a news report.

“… scenes down here at the wharf today, as Supergirl pulled off another spectacular save, rescuing six stranded foremen after the edge of the docks collapsed, sending the crane and workers plummeting into the ocean. A situation that would have ended quite differently, if not for the quick actions of National City’s beloved hero.”

An image of Supergirl appeared on screen. It was footage taken on a cell phone, no doubt from some bystander or dock worker who had been there at the time of the incident. Kara’s face broke out into a giant grin as she looked at her sister.

Alex was lifting an entire crane out of the water. Drenched from head to toe, she pushed the machinery up with one arm, and from her other hung the six workers, all linked together like a barrel of monkeys. When she had the workers safely back on the dock, she put the crane down just as carefully a short way away from everything. Everyone was applauding, and Alex laughed and waved before shooting off again.

Kara felt pride well up within her. Alex had always caught onto things relatively quickly, but this was something else. She had clearly been zipping around the city, saving people all day. No wonder Kara still hadn’t heard back from her.

As Kara finished her third slide of pizza, and started to feel something unusual – she was starting to feel _full_. She was used to being able to finish an entire pizza by herself. Clearly Alex’s body had different ideas about how much pizza it could handle.

Kara got to her feet and headed for the fridge, thinking maybe she just needed to wash it all down with a beer, there was a knock at the door.

She froze, hand hovering over the fridge door handle. She looked around at the front door, and it took a moment for her to remember that her eyes were hurting because she was Alex, and no matter how hard she concentrated she was not going to be able to see through the door.

But Alex had a peephole.

Kara tip-toed over and peered through the hole.

Maggie was standing there.

 _Crap_.

Kara pursed her lips, hesitated, and then opened the door.

Maggie smiled up at her with such a warm expression, Kara felt her heart flutter. “Hey,’

“H-hey. Hi,’

“Can I come in?’

“Uh, yeah…’

Kara stepped aside. Maggie stepped over the threshold, making sure to nudge Kara with her shoulder as she brushed past.

“I tried to call you,’ Maggie mentioned as she went to the fridge.

“Yes, sorry, I was… busy.”

Maggie pulled two beers out, cracked them both open, and handed one to Kara. She took it with a small smile, and returned the gesture as Maggie clinked the neck of her bottle against hers.

Kara chewed on her bottom lip, searching for something to say that would not give her away. If she was tense around J’onn, it was a whole new level of anxiety around Maggie. She was a detective. How would Kara ever be able to explain this to her if she figured out that she wasn’t really Alex?

After a long moment, Kara decided the best she could do was keep it casual.

‘How was work?’ she asked.

This had been the right question. Maggie sighed, shrugged off her leather jacket, sat herself down at the bench, ran a hand through her hair and launched into the details of her day.

Kara hadn’t really spent a lot of time with Maggie, just one on one. It had always been a fleeting conversation, or she’d been third wheel to her and Alex. Kara liked Maggie, and not just because she made her sister so happy (and anyone who could put such a twinkle in Alex’s eye definitely had Kara’s approval). Maggie was kind, and funny, and brave. She had grit, and could be counted on to be there no matter how bad the situation.

But this was Maggie as Alex saw her. This was Maggie that only Alex got to see. And like before, when she’d been with J’onn, Kara felt guilt churn in her gut.

“… reports are killing me. You know when you just can’t look at paperwork anymore?’ Maggie laughed, and took a long swig of her beer.

“Mmm,’ Kara nodded.

Maggie sat back a little, and looked at Kara inquiringly. Kara tried not to let her panic show on her face; all that was missing from that look, was the interrogation room and a bright light shining in her eyes to go with it.

“You okay?’

“Yeah,’ Kara said too quickly.

Maggie’s eyebrows rose.

Kara slumped her shoulders. “I’m just… tired.”

“Big day?’ Maggie smirked.

“Understatement.”

Maggie got up and, to Kara’s surprise, walked around behind her and put her hands on her shoulders. Kara opened her mouth to protest, but Maggie’s thumbs were suddenly working on her shoulders, right in the spot that had been bugging her all day, and all Kara could do was let out a long, relieved sigh.

Her head fell forward; the ends of Alex’s short hair tickled her neck. But she barely noticed. Maggie’s hands were strong and knew exactly where to press. The last time Kara had been this physically sore all the time, was when she’d spent up all her energy after being captured by CADMUS, but even that had only been for a few hours. This had been all day. Alex’s muscles were a minefield of knots, but Maggie was just like a balm, soothing them one by one.

“Jesus,’ Maggie murmured as she worked her way across Kara’s shoulders. ‘You’re like marble. What have you been doing today?”

“Hrgh,’ was all Kara could say.

Maggie chuckled, and began to move her way down. And down.

Kara’s eyes flew open as she felt warm breath on the nape of her neck. Her stomach was doing somersaults. Alex’s body was reacting in a way that Kara had little control over.

“Uh…’ Kara got to her feet suddenly, and stepped away from Maggie.

“Whats wrong?’ Maggie asked

“Nothing. I’m sorry. That was…nice. I feel much better.”

Maggie frowned, but laughed at her. “You’re acting weird.”

“I am?’ Kara sighed and rubbed her eyes.

Yes, she was acting weird. The entire situation was weird. It was definitely a case of her mind telling her no, but her body telling her yes. She needed Maggie to leave.

“I’m sorry,’ Kara urged. ‘I’m just… I’m really…”

“Tired,’ Maggie finished for her. She took another long mouthful of her beer, then put her hands up in defeat. ‘Say no more. I can take a hint.’

Kara felt the knot of guilt tighten again. “Sorry, Maggie, it’s just…’

“It’s cool. I should probably go home and finish off some work anyway.”

When Maggie turned toward the front door, Kara rolled her eyes with relief.

“I’ll give you a call in the morning.”

“I’ll try and answer it this time,’ Kara joked.

Maggie laughed, and turned short of opening the door. “We’re still on for tomorrow night, yeah? Did you ask J’onn about getting off work early?’

Kara blinked. “Tomorrow night?’

Maggie’s eyebrows rose again. “The award ceremony? The NCPD Annual Awards Ceremony? The one I asked you to weeks ago?”

“Right! Yes. The awards ceremony.’ Kara made a flippant gesture of how absentminded she was. ‘The awards ceremony that we are attending together.”

“You forgot to ask, didn’t you,’ Maggie said knowingly.

“I’ll double check tomorrow,’

“Good,’ Maggie took Kara’s hand in hers, and looked up at her with an amused quirk at the corner of her mouth. ‘Just remember, I have to be in full uniform. So try and keep your drooling to a minimum, okay? The police commissioner will be there.”

Kara didn’t have enough time to argue, because Maggie swiftly moved forward and planted a kiss on her.

Maggie pulled back, said, “Night, Danvers,’ and then left, throwing one last smirk over her shoulder.

Only after Kara had shut the door, and sat back down at the bench, did she laugh at just how ridiculous this entire thing had truly become.

 

\------ 

 

Admittedly, it did feel a little bizarre to fly through her own apartment window. But it would save a whole lot of stares this way; Alex was sure every one of the people in her building would, at the very least, raise their eyebrows to the image of Supergirl taking the elevator to her apartment.

Kara had left the window open. So when she landed (much more easily than it had been that morning) she looked around for herself.

Kara was sitting at the bench, staring off into space. She looked up at the _whoosh_ sound Alex had made when flying into the apartment, but didn’t get a chance to say anything before Alex was at the bench and picking the nachos off the plate.

“Hungry?’ Kara laughed.

“I’rm starfin’,’ Alex mumbled, her mouth full of food.

“I thought you might be. I went and picked this up from the Mexican place downstairs.”

Alex carried the plate of nachos over to the couch, and flopped down with a grunt. Kara came and sat with her, but let her finish her dinner (which she did, in a very short amount of time) before trying to engage her in conversation.

“You’ve been busy,’ Kara smiled.

“Sorry,’ Alex sighed after a long drink of an already open beer she’d swiped from the bench. ‘I should have come back earlier. But I kept hearing all these things happening everywhere, all these emergencies. After the fire, there was this guy stuck in his car that he’d flipped, and then there was a tree that had collapsed on a powerline and the lines were all over the place, and then there was the crane accident, and then a boat capsized out in the bay…’

Alex stopped when she noticed the way Kara was smiling at her. Her own face was beaming back at her, and Alex mused that this was probably why Kara always looked so happy to receive compliments from her – the pride coming out of her own face was quite heart-warming.

“Sorry,’ Alex muttered again, although she couldn’t keep the small smile that tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“Don’t be silly,’ Kara laughed. ‘I get it. How do you feel?’

“Tired,’ Alex chuckled, ‘but amazing. Your body… does it even have a limit?’

‘I haven’t really tested it.”

“Well, when we get back to ourselves I’m testing you. Speaking of which, what did Winn come up with?’

Kara explained to her what Winn had found out, and Alex felt relief flood her. As amazing as it was to be able to do such powerful things, Alex missed her own body, and her own life. She missed the coolness of being in the lab. She missed her black utility belt, and the computers, and bloodwork and devise and her clothes. She was an agent, not a superhero.

As Kara went on to talk about what she had been up to, Alex had to hold back her laughter. Just the mental image of Kara trying to be her was ludicrous enough, but to hear Kara tell it was even better.

“I got asked to take a blood sample today. I’ve never used a needle in my life! I had to get one of the lab guys to do it! And there’s always people around, asking me things I have no idea about,’ Kara threw her hands up in the air with a huff. ‘What the heck is a bioreactor anyway?’

“Do you really want to know? Cause I can tell you…”

“ _No_. Please. No more science talk. My head hurts.” She let out another sigh and got up to take Alex’s dirty dishes to the sink. ‘I brought home some paperwork. Can you look at it so I don’t have to look like such an idiot tomorrow?’

“You mean so _I_ don’t look like an idiot. And for the sake of my reputation, yes, I’ll have a look.”

“I can’t wait for that stupid device to be ready. We just have to get through tomorrow and - … oh.”

Alex looked around at the change of tone in Kara’s voice. “What? What’s ‘oh’?

Kara leant against the bench, looking awkward. “Maggie was here earlier.”

“She was?’ Alex frowned, feeling disappointed that she’d missed her. ‘What did she want?’

“To see you.’

It took a moment for the full impact of these words to hit her. Kara was looking even more uncomfortable now.

Alex got to her feet. “What happened?’

“She came over, and she had some beer and… well…’

“What?’

“ _She kissed me_!’

Kara whispered it, as if it were a shameful secret she could barely dare to speak aloud. In any other situation, if it were anyone else in the entire universe, Alex might have felt differently in light of this information. But it was Kara, and this was a unique situation.

Alex pursed her lips, trying not to laugh at Kara’s expression. “She kissed you?’

“It was only a quick kiss,’ Kara insisted, looking humiliated. ‘She was leaving, and… and she’ just came out of no-where, and…’

“Kara,’ Alex grabbed her sister’s upper arms, holding her still. She was fidgeting with guilt. ‘It’s okay. I’m not mad.”

Kara bit her lip. Alex was sure she’d only seen that anguished expression on her own face once – when she’d gotten in trouble from Mom and Dad for letting Kara take her flying at night.

“Are you _sure_?’ Kara breathed.

“She thought you were me,’ Alex shrugged. ‘What else was she going to do?’

Kara almost collapsed with relief. Alex finally let the laugh loose, and hugged her own body in a soft embrace. It was illogical to feel that twinge of jealousy, so she brushed it aside. _You just miss her_ , Alex told herself. _Don’t be an idiot._

“Anything else you want to tell me, stress head?’

“She gave me a massage?’

“She’s good at those.”

“Oh, I know,’ Kara pulled back and cleared her throat. ‘And she said something about an award ceremony.’

Alex hit herself in the forehead with a groan. The award ceremony! They had been talking about it for weeks. Maggie herself wasn’t receiving an award, but she like the rest of the science department were attending because her superior was receiving, and they wanted to go and show their support. And she’d asked Alex because they were allowed to bring partners, wives, husbands, girlfriends or whatever.

Alex was lost in thought for a moment, remembering how it had felt when they’d been sitting on Maggie’s couch, watching reruns of _I Love Lucy_ , and Maggie had suddenly thrown “Do you wanna be my date for this work thing?” in her direction. It was to be the first real “out in public” event they were going to attend together, and Alex’s anxiety had slowly transformed into excitement as the weeks at gone by.

A sudden thought occurred to Alex. “The ceremony? With the required… uniform…”

Dozens of images flashed through Alex’s mind so fast, that it took Kara to click her fingers right in her face to bring her back to reality. Kara was looking at her, obviously trying but failing to hide her amusement, like she knew exactly what Alex had been thinking.

“You have to go to that,’ she said finally to Kara.

“But…”

“I know, it feels weird,’ Alex nodded. ‘But today a girl asked me to sign her backpack, and that felt wrong, but I did it because it meant something to her. And this will mean something to Maggie. You were right – the world still needs Supergirl and Alex Danvers, and Maggie needs me. I can’t let her down. Please?”

Kara gave her a peculiar look. “You really like her. I can tell. My heart… _your_ heart… was beating so hard the whole time she was here. I thought at first I was just nervous she was going to realise it wasn’t, but it’s not that. It’s you. Your heart races because of her.”

Alex found this a little fascinating; the fact that her body responded to external stimuli without any mental influence. But she mostly felt embarrassed, for herself and for Kara. So, for the sake of her privacy, she tried to change the subject.

“That explains what happened when I put out that fire in the Chinese restaurant.’ Alex chuckled. ‘All I had to do was smell the dumplings and it was like Niagara Falls in your mouth.”

“I’m sorry,’ Kara pouted, ‘that you can’t go.”

Alex shrugged, trying to convince herself more than Kara that she didn’t care.

“There will be other things.”

“Well,’ Kara began, looking awkward, ‘seen as I’m doing this for you…”

“What do you need?’ Alex smiled. ‘Although I don’t know what else there could possibly be? I just spent all day being a superhero.”

Kara gave Alex as big a pleading grin as she could.

 

\----

 

“Danvers!”

Alex came to a half in front of the desk of Snapper Carr, completely unperturbed by the crack of his voice. He hadn’t even looked up from his paperwork. How did he know it was her?

“Sir?’ Alex responded.

This got him to look up. He looked just as petty as Kara had described him, with the permanent downturn of his mouth, and the heavy brow that didn’t seem to ever lift out of a scowl. But despite the abysmal welcome, Alex decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Being the head of department was a stressful job. God knows she’d been snapped at enough by J’onn in the past when she’d caught him at a bad moment. And Alex had tough enough skin not to let a little attitude to get to her. She could definitely handle a little yelling from some short, bald man who would barely even look her in the eye.

“Since when do you call me ‘ _sir’_?’

Damn it. She was already getting this wrong. And she thought being Supergirl would be hard. Being Kara was going to be a whole other kettle of fish.

Alex shrugged. “Since when do you care what I do?’

“Since you are one of my employees, and are meant to be at L-Corp right now interviewing your best friend Lena Luthor, instead of standing there, gawking at me.”

Alex felt irritation boil, and wondered absentmindedly if it was all her, or if it was just a normal reaction Kara’s body had to this man. “

I just came in to grab something. I’m on my way there now, and seen as you’re my boss, I thought it would be a good idea to check in and tell you that’s where I was going.”

“Consider yourself checked,’ He muttered, rifling through his paperwork again. ‘Now get out of here. And don’t come back until you’ve got the goods.”

Alex balled her hand into a fist, feeling the tingle in her eyes that warned her that she was getting out of control. Alex squeezed her eyes shut long enough to settle the heat vision, and then strode out of the office, making sure not to touch anything on her way out of the building in case she smashed it.

Even though she missed her bike, she did have to admit it was so much easier to just run across down and be where she needed to be in seconds. Traffic in National City could be a pain in the ass sometimes.

Alex had only just walked in through the glass doors to the L-Corp lobby, fixing her windblown hair, when a security guard suddenly appeared. Alex was on edge instantly.

“Miss Danvers,’ he said formally, ‘please come with me.”

“Excuse me?’

“Miss Luthor asked that you be shown up right away. Please…’

He held a hand out, indicating for her to follow. Alex frowned in confusion, but did as he asked. She followed him into the elevator, and watched as he pressed the button for the top floor. The lift went up slowly.

“Do guests usually get a security detail?’ Alex asked.

The guard’s moustache twitched. ‘No, ma’am. Miss Luthor has requested that you are to be escorted up whenever you are here.”

Alex didn’t have much time to ponder why this was. All too soon, the lift had jolted to a stop and the doors were opening with a rattle. The followed the guard all the way through the offices, for which she was actually quite glad – she had no idea how to find Lena Luthor’s office, but knew that Kara would have, and to stop and ask an employee for directions was bound to cause suspicion.

“Miss Danvers,’ smiled the secretary just outside of Lena’s office. ‘Of course, go right in.”

Alex gave her a nod, and one to the guard, and showed herself inside.

Lena was hunched over her desk, her back to Alex. Her hair was falling in a straight curtain around her face. Her calf muscles were defined, due from the size of her heels and her posture as she bent over something that, judging from the silver wisp of smoke that was floating above her hear, was smouldering.

“Miss Luthor?’

Lena straightened up and looked around. She beamed at Alex, and Alex felt her stomach twist. She hadn’t seen Lena Luthor smile much, in person or in the press, but _that smile_ was almost dazzling,

“Miss Luthor? So formal,’ Lena laughed and beckoned her over. ‘I’m happy you’re here. Come look at this.”

Alex did as she asked, curiosity getting the better of her. A large, green unit was sitting on Lena’s desk, an array of screwdrivers lying around it.

“It looks like the containment unit they used in Ghostbusters,’ Alex remarked.

Lena laughed. “It’s hardly anything that cool. It’s a centrifuge.”

Alex frowned. “It’s kind of small for a centrifuge. Isn’t that going to effect the centripetal force needed to…”

She shut her mouth. Lena looked up at her in surprise.

“You seem to know a lot about this,’ she smirked.

Alex straightened up. “My sister is a science nerd.”

Lena sat down on one of the guest chairs, and gestured for Alex to sit in the other. She did so, shifting uncomfortably as the woollen cardigan she was wearing gave her the urge to claw her arms off again. It was so _itchy_. How could Kara stand it? She missed her leather jacket.

“How is your sister?’ Lena asked, leaning back in her seat.

Alex sniffed, amused at the irony. “She’s doing alright. Things are a little all over the place for her at the moment, but she’s dealing.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.’ Lena’s brow knotted together slightly in a sign of genuine concern that surprised Alex. ‘But she seems extremely capable. I’m sure she’ll work it all out soon, whatever it is.”

“Yeah, she will.”

“Is that why you had to cancel yesterday?’

It took a moment for Alex to understand what she was talking about. “Oh… no, that was… something else.”

“You are nothing if not mysterious.”

Lena looked at her then, with narrowed eyes, as if trying to work her out. Alex was instantly on the defensive. She’d been worried enough in the past that Kara was becoming friendly with a Luthor, unable to help herself feel that slight twinge of pre-judgemental bias toward the woman across from her now. She couldn’t help it. Alex, like everyone else, knew of the conflict between Luthors and Supers.

But Kara had already insisted many times that Lena was not like the rest of them. That she was good, or at the very least she was trying to be, which is more than they could say for any of the others. And Alex trusted Kara’s judgement, so sitting before Lena now, she forced herself to relax.

And when she did, she noticed the smirk tugging at the corner of Lena’s mouth, and realised she was just kidding. She wasn’t looking for Supergirl beneath the glasses, trying to discover a secret or expose her – she was kidding around with someone she valued as a friend.

Feeling guilty for being so close minded, Alex said, “Sorry if I ruined your plans.’

“I had plenty of work to pick up the slack, believe me,’ Lena laughed.

Alex had listened to Kara talk about Lena enough in the past to know that they were friendly enough, but as she sat with Lena now, she had to wonder if Kara hadn’t been entirely forthcoming. Lena continued on about stockholder meetings, and pitched the idea that the centrifuge on her desk now was a prototype for what she hoped could become a future appliance for CSI mobile vehicles to use, freeing up room in their trucks.

Alex could count on one hand the amount of times she’d interacted with Lena Luthor, and each time had been formal and slightly awkward. But this was how Kara saw her. She was quick to smile, and her eyes sparkled when she looked at Alex, and if she didn’t know better, Alex would have thought Lena was almost _flirting_ with her.

But hey, what did Alex know? Maybe this was just how she and Kara were. And her own experience with women was still very limited. Maggie had once called her ‘baby gay’, and Alex had felt annoyed at the time, but as she sat in front of Lena, she had to wonder if maybe she had been right.

Or maybe Lena was just this charming around everyone.

Alex eyes must have glazed over, because Lena laughed and said, ‘Sorry, I’m sure this is all very dull for you.”

“No, not at all.” Alex recovered. She reached into Kara’s handbag, and pulled out the notepad and pen. ‘But I don’t want to waste anymore of your time than I have to.”

Lena’s smile faltered, and she sat up a little straighter. “Alright then. Ask away.”

Alex glanced down at the questions Kara had written for her the night before. She asked them in what she thought was a professional manner, but as every question was put to her, Lena’s questions became shorter and shorter, and Alex realised that Lena was becoming annoyed.

 _Because it sounds like you’re interrogating her_ , Alex scolded herself. _You’re not an agent, you’re Kara. Ask her like she’s your friend._

Alex adjusted the glassed on her nose, like Kara would, and gave Lena a little smile. ‘Can I ask… the centrifuge? Is it your design?’

Lena lifted her chin, surveying Alex. “It is.”

“Do you always personally work on your inventions? You have entire lab full of scientists who could be developing your new technologies.”

“They’re my designs.”

“Yes, but you’re CEO. How do you have the time?’

“I make the time,’ Lena glanced at the device on her desk. ‘I can’t help it. I like to tinker. I always have. It used to drive my father nuts. Some parents trip over toys and lego in the hall, mine stood on enough bolts and screws to fill a hardware store.’ Lena chuckled.

Her expression darkened slightly though for a moment as she lost herself in her own memories. After a long moment she blinked and looked at Alex, and her face brightened once again.

“I almost always hand them over in the end, my inventions. Like you said, I’m CEO, and most times the demands of my position mean that I have to take a step back. But I always like to do what I can. They’re like my babies, in a way. Does that sound pathetic?’

“No,’ Alex shook her head, and gave Lena a small, encouraging smile. ‘It’s admirable.”

Lena’s entire demeanour was back to how she had been when Alex had first walked in, and Alex knew she’d nailed it. This is what Kara did for her, she _acknowledged_ her. And the way Lena smiled at her suddenly made much more sense.

“Well,’ Lena gave a little shrug, trying to appear nonchalant, ‘I try. So, what else do you need to know?’

Alex laughed, adjusted Kara’s glasses again, and went to the next question when Kara’s phone rang. Alex retrieved it hastily and saw “ _JJ_ ” flash up on the screen.

“Sorry,’ Alex said hastily, ‘I have to take this.”

Lena waved a hand, indicating her to go ahead.

Alex swiped to answer, and held it up to her ear. “Danve-… er, hello?”

There was a pause, and then J’onn’s deep voice said importantly, ‘Supergirl, I need you to come in. I need to discuss something with you.”

“I’ll be there soon.’ Alex put the phone away and looked at Lena apologetically. ‘Sorry, that was my boss. I have to go.”

“Mr. Carr has you on a pretty tight leash,’

“Unfortunately I think he does too.”

Lena shook Alex’s hand, lingering a little too long, her eyes holding gaze what was probably longer than necessary.

“Come by again soon,’ she smiled.

Alex promised she would, and thanked her once again for her time, before turning on her heel and rushing from the office.

 

\----

 

“Agent Danvers!’

“Can’t talk now, Allenby, I have… bathroom needs.”

“But, _ma’am_ …”

Kara slipped out of the lab, away from the lab techs who had been following her around all morning, and jogged out of sight before letting her shoulders slump in relief. She had had no intention of going to bathroom, but now that she thought about it maybe she should. She would be less likely to be bothered in there, at least. She’d be able to have five minutes’ peace.

She was half way there; Kara stepped around a corner, and slammed right into J’onn.

“Whoa, sorry,’ she said quickly, reaching out for him as he staggered.

“No trouble,’ J’onn brushed her hands away. ‘Is your sister here yet?’

“Al-… er, what?”

“I called her half an hour ago,’ J’onn looked at his watch, then up at the open window Kara usually flew in through.

Kara looked up too. “Is there something wrong?’

As if on cue, with a _whoosh_ , Alex flew in. She hovered for a moment, before spotting Kara and J’onn, and then landed softly beside them. Kara wanted to compliment her on how her landings had improved, but remembered J’onn was standing right there and bit her tongue.

Alex straightened up, and put her hands on her hips in that superhero pose. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes,’ J’onn folded his arms over her chest, and looked at both of them in turn.

And Kara felt a fleeting flash of panic, wondering if he’d figured out and he was about to scold them both for being ridiculous and thinking they could pull this off.

But he just said, ‘Supergirl, you’ve been invited to attend the NCPD Awards Ceremony tonight at City Hall. The Police Commissioner thought it would be a good sense of community for you to present the lifetime achievement award to Sargent Ramirez, who is retiring this year.”

Kara looked at Alex. Her sister was looking confused.

“I’m sorry, did you say the NCPD award ceremony?’

J’onn frowned this time. “Do you know of another police force awards ceremony happening this evening? _Yes_. The Commissioner has asked for you personally. I told him you would be happy to accept.”

Alex looked at Kara, her mouth slightly open.

“You’re also attending, yes?’ J’onn asked Kara. ‘I heard you were accompanying Detective Sawyer.”

“Well… er…”

“Yes, she is,’ Alex cut across. ‘And yes, I will go. That’s fine.”

J’onn nodded, and then headed back to the main control room.

Kara looked at Alex in disbelief. “I almost _want_ him to read our minds and figure out what’s going on, so he’ll force us to stay home.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic,’ Alex rolled her eyes. ‘And you know he won’t do that. Not without our permission.”

“What if I go dare him?’

Alex chuckled, and pointed at Kara’s face. “Do I always get those lines on my forehead when I panic?’

Kara smiled, and jerked her head, indicating for Alex to follow her back to lab. “Come help me do the science stuff. How did it go with Lena?’

“Fine.’

Kara looked around; Alex’s tone was trying too hard to be neutral.

“She likes you,’ Alex commented. ‘A lot.”

“We’re friends,’ Kara shrugged, feeling her cheeks burn.

She didn’t entirely know what Alex was getting at, but she didn’t ask her to elaborate either. The lab assistants had seen her coming back to the lab, and were already hurrying over.


	4. Chapter 4

“Who did this bloodwork?’

Kara looked over her shoulder. Alex was sitting on the edge of her bed, leafing through a binder of paperwork with a frown on her face.

It took her a moment to remember. “Livingston? I presume,’ she added with a chuckle.

Alex smiled. “Remind me to give her a good recommendation next financial year. This is good work. She deserves a raise.”

Kara agreed. If it weren’t for her delegating all these tasks to every lab assistant she could point a finger at, she was sure the science division would have been in chaos by now. She was lucky that everyone had such high respect for Alex, and would do whatever she wanted them to no questions asked.

“I finished the article, too,’ Kara added, pointing at the bench where her laptop sat. ‘Don’t forget to give it to Snapper on your way tonight. The deadline is at five.”

Alex didn’t look up from the lab report, but grunted and waved a hand to show that she had heard Kara.

For not the first time since all this had happened, Kara suddenly missed being herself.

She missed her bed, and her kitchen, and her things. She missed her job. Yes, she even missed the tetchy monotone of Snapper Carr. 

It wasn’t a constant ache; it came and went in waves. Like when she was at the lab and people wouldn’t leave her alone, or she kept running into J’onn had had to think of excuse after excuse to avoid going out in the field with him. Her excuses were becoming weaker and weaker, and his frown was becoming more and more prominent. But Alex had told her not to injure her body, and Kara knew that she would make a complete idiot of herself if she went out with a team of agents and tried to bring in rogue aliens. That was when she missed the wide open halls of CatCo, and the freedom to rush around without anyone wanting anything from her.

As much as she had improved with the gun, she was not Alex, and didn’t know how to fight beyond her own fighting style – a style which was basically just a lot of punching.

That was her problem, she’d decided, as she stood in front of the full-length mirror. As much as she loved and admired her sister, and had looked up to and wanted to be just like her since she’d first arrived on earth, Kara _wasn’t_ Alex. It had taken her a while to accept, that even though they were similar in many ways, they were still entirely different. Kara had accepted this concept much more easily after becoming Supergirl. It had given her a new identity – her own identify. She liked her life. She liked being herself.

She loved Alex, but she didn’t want to _be_ her.

Which is why she fidgeted as she looked in the mirror now, and Alex’s brown eyes stared back.

“I’m not sure about this green,’ Kara mused, tugging on the hem of the dress.

Alex finally put down the report, and appeared behind her, holding up two more dresses than hung from black hangers. Kara looked at her enviously. She was riding the wave again. Alex was still dressed in her slacks and shirt (she’d taken the cardigan off and thrown it across the room the second she’d walked in the door). Kara wanted to be back in her own body.

“Well she’s seen this one already,’ Alex brandished the blue dress, ‘and I think red might be a bit salacious for a formal event.”

“But _green_?’

Alex pursed her lips, looking at her own body critically. ‘Hang on, I might have something else…”

Kara ran a hand through her hair. She watched as the Alex in the reflection did the same. “Are you sure I can’t just cancel? Maggie will understand.” When Kara heard no reply, she added, ‘It really should be you going, not me.”

“I am going,’ came Alex’s reply from the bedroom.

“You know what I mean.”

Alex strode back in and handed Kara a maroon dress. “Put that on.”

Kara sighed and did as she was told. When she turned back to the mirror, she watched as Kara Danvers did the zip up of Alex Danvers dress, but also admired the way it looked. It fit her perfectly, and Kara mused that it was so intriguing how someone who spent most of her time in combat gear, or leather jackets and jeans, seemed to have such good taste in dresses.

“It looks nice,’ Kara laughed.

“I haven’t even worn this yet,’ Alex smiled, and got Kara to turn this way and that. ‘And I thought the lady in the shop was full of crap when she told me how good it looked. Guess I just needed another perspective.”

“Maggie will like it,’ Kara smirked, waggling one eyebrow playfully.

Alex narrowed her eyes. “Come here, sit down. I need to do your make up.”

“I can do my own make up.”

“Yes, _your_ make up. You need to look like me, not you, remember?”

It felt like they were teenagers again. Alex was the one who had taught Kara how to put on make-up. Kara could remember sitting on the edge of the bathtub as Alex, wedged between Kara’s knees, applied blush and foundation and mascara, and talked Kara through each item and why it was used. It had felt nice to let Alex draw all over her features.

When Alex led her into the bedroom and told her to sit down at the vanity, Kara closed her eyes and pictured herself as a fifteen-year-old again, when she had no cares in the world.

“Hmm,’ Alex murmured as she applied eye shadow.

“What?’

“I just noticed a grey hair. Has that always been there?’

Kara laughed, and batted Alex’s hand away as she felt fingers in her hair. “Don’t pull it out! I’m sure its fine.”

When Kara looked in the mirror again when Alex was all done, she could see why it had been better for Alex to be in charge of her look for tonight. Kara would not have done her hair or her make-up this way.

“You look beautiful,’ Kara smiled at her sister.

“Yeah, well…’ Alex shrugged and turned away with a blush.

Kara checked the time. “Maggie should be here any minute. What should I do?’

“Just try not to do much at all,’ Alex smiled. ‘But don’t be rude to her!”

“But what if she tries to… y’know…”

Alex didn’t get to give an answer to this possible scenario – there was a knock at the door.

Kara’s eyes widened. She looked at Alex, who raised her eyebrows and gestured at the door, and Kara remembered that this was supposed to be her apartment so of course she would be the one to open the door.

Clearing her throat, she wiped the sweat from her palms and went to let Maggie in.

Kara felt her stomach clench as she took in the police officer at her door. Maggie was dressed in full uniform; black shirt and pants, tie fasten smartly at her collar. The cuffs of her jacket were rimmed by golden stripes, and on both shoulder the NCPD badge were sewn on. Underneath her hat, Kara could see her hair was tied back in a slick bun that sat at the nape of her neck. She was leaning against the door, white gloves in her hand and a smirk on her face, making her dimples more prominent than usual.

“Wow,’ Maggie breathed, looking Kara up and down. ‘You look amazing.”

“Thank you,’ Kara said automatically. ‘You look… very handsome.”

Maggie laughed, and stepped through the door as Kara stepped aside.

“Oh,’ Maggie’s tone displayed her surprise, ‘hi, Kara! I didn’t know you’d be here.”

Kara looked around. Alex was standing in the middle of the room, hands clasped in front of her, with a dazed look on her face as she looked Maggie up and down.

Kara coughed, and Alex blinked, remembering herself.

“So-…’ Alex cleared her throat, and blinked again. ‘Sorry, I just dropped by to see Alex after work. Maggie, you look… er…”

Maggie pulled her white gloves on. “Yeah, I know, I look like a total dork. But we have to dress like this for important occasions.”

“’Dork’ isn’t really the word I would have used.”

Kara covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. Despite Alex looking like her, she recognized the expression. She’d seen it a few times; like when Alex bought her first motorbike, or the time Kara had saved up all her allowance to buy a really expensive bottle of whiskey for Alex for her graduation from college. 

She stepped forward and patted Alex on the arm, taking pity on her. “We should probably go. Kara, don’t you have that thing you need to get to?’

“Thing? Yes,’ Alex tore her gaze away from Maggie, who was thankfully too preoccupied with polishing the badge on her police cap to notice anything awry. ‘That thing. The office. I have that article to hand in.”

“We should probably go too,’ Maggie brandished the crook of her arm at Kara.

Kara gave Alex one last, thinly-veiled look of apology, and then slipped her arm through Maggie’s.

There was a police cruiser waiting for them downstairs. Kara hadn’t really believed that Maggie would take her on the back of her motorcycle, but she also didn’t know Maggie well enough to be one hundred percent sure.

When they stepped out onto the sidewalk, and Maggie held the back door of the cruiser open for her, Kara laughed.

“In the back? Really?”

“Don’t make me put a hand on your head,’ Maggie smirked.

Kara rolled her eyes and slid inside. Maggie sidled up beside her, and they were off.

Maggie introduced Kara to the young man behind the steering wheel, Officer Ramirez. He looked entirely too happy as he nodded and gave a ‘ma’am’ with a tip of his cap to Kara in the review mirror.

“It’s my first week on the force,’ he beamed. 'My aunt is getting an award tonight!"

“I hope this isn’t some sort of initiation,’ Kara teased, throwing Maggie a side eye.

“It’s a rite of passage,’ Maggie shrugged. ‘All newbies get the crap jobs. The ones who stick it out get to stay. What, you didn’t get that at the DEO?’

Kara thought back, trying to recall if Alex had ever mentioned anything about this. But Alex had been an agent of the DEO long before Kara had even known about it.

“Not unless you count being locked in a room and training to fight, twelve hours a day, for five months straight?’ Kara offered.

The young officer’s eyes flashed in the rear view mirror.

Maggie fiend an airy demeanour, aware that Ramirez was listening. “I remember when I first became an officer. I had to walk the beat, and go door knocking for an entire week, asking if anyone “had seen this man” while holding up pictures of the Hamburgular. My superior officers thought that was a real laugh.”

“Detective,’ Ramirez began slowly, his voice croaky, ‘you don’t think… sure they wouldn’t…”

“Eyes on the road, Ramirez.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Maggie gave Kara a wink.

Kara watched National City pass by, admiring the store fronts and the people walking by. She so very rarely got to see the city from this angle, always flying up high above it. Flying afforded her a one-of-a-kind view that she cherished with all her heart, but somehow this way seemed more organic. It was slower, and closer, and it afforded Kara a different perspective of the city she loved so dearly.

“Here,’

Kara blinked out of her daydream. Maggie had nudged her with her elbow, and was now handing her a file.

“What’s this?’

Inside were several mug shots of thoroughly unpleasant looking men, accompanied by some paperwork and wrap sheets. Kara flipped through, picking up the one identified the all seemed to have in common.

“Ivory Knives?’

“It’s the name of their gang. Every member carries, surprise surprise, an ivory blade with them. It’s their weapon of choice.’ Maggie explained. She leant against Kara and flicked through the photographs until finding the one she was looking for. ‘This guy? His name is Marcus Hackstock.”

Kara grimaced as she looked down at the surveillance photograph. He wasn’t as burly as the others, but looked the most menacing. He had a large scar running down the left side of his face, which gave him a lazy eye. His right eye was a piercing blue, that looked right into Kara’s soul. Just looked at the photograph was enough to give her the heebie jeebies.

“I did some digging,’ Maggie continued, ‘into the case. Turns out, our alien was seen running from the scene of a foundry just three blocks from where we found him. Which, coincidently, is owned by Nightvale industries, which has ties to…”

“The Ivory Knives?’

Maggie beamed at her. “You catch on so quick, Danvers, I love it.”

Kara felt her cheeks burn. “So you think they had something to do with the Liberian?”

“He was obviously high tailing it out of there for some reason.”

“Have you got idea what that reason might be?”

“I was hoping you could tell me. Did your lab guys figure out what that device does yet?”

Kara cleared her throat. “We’re still working on it. I’ll let you know when we have something.”

It sounded lame to her. And Maggie gave her a lingering look, and Kara wondered if she had noticed yet. Should she just tell her? How would Maggie react?

The feeling of panic faded as Maggie just nodded, and turned back to look out of her own passenger window. Kara felt guilty again. She really didn’t like lying, despite the fact that she had to do it time and time again since coming out as Supergirl. But to tell Maggie the truth would expose herself as Supergirl, and she wasn’t sure that she was ready for Maggie to know just yet.

Besides, this wasn’t just her secret to tell. And if they were going to tell Maggie, Alex should have been present – or at least had a say in whether or not it was a good idea in the first place. 

Kara’s feeling intensified slightly as she felt Maggie’s hand suddenly take hers. Their fingers linked, and Maggie’s thumb stroked the back of her hand absentmindedly, and Kara couldn’t even describe what she was feeling. It was too many emotions all smashing into each other all at once.

Making a mental note to share this information with Alex later, Kara just let Maggie hold her hand, let Alex’s body accept the reassurance, and turned back out to watch the city roll on by.

 

\----

 

Alex landed with a thud on the roof, changed in a split second, and then stomped her way town two flights of stairs. Three corridors and one elevator ride later, she practically ran into the office and slammed the folder she had been carrying down on the desk.

“Here you go,’ she breathed, and headed for the exit.

“Hold it!’

She’d almost made it.

Alex sighed and spun around on her heel. Snapper was getting to his feet, already a bad sign. In the four encounters Alex had had with him in the past day, he’d preferred to share his disdain from the comfort of his chair.

He was shorter than she had expected. Alex pursed her lips, trying not to smile.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?’

“I have…’ Alex wracked her brain, ‘… a date.”

Snapper’s mouth turned downward in distaste. Alex wanted to smack the look of his face. What, he didn’t think Kara could date?

Alex had not known the extent of her sisters’ apparent allure until she’d had to walk around as her. Of course, she’d already noticed the lingering looks from James and Mon-El, but there were a few people at the DEO who held eye-contact longer than they probably should, who’s eyes wandered up and down. And then there was Lena Luthor, who was another matter completely.

He held up the folder she’d slammed down on his desk. “This the Luthor interview?’

“Yes, spell-checked and everything.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

It was getting late. The Awards ceremony would be starting any minute. In the time between Kara had left with Maggie, Alex had flown half way across the state to put out a forest fire, pulled a family out of an overturned car hanging off the Smith Street bridge, caught a linesman who had fallen from his lift inches before hitting the ground, and even rescued a cat from a tree. An _actual_ cat. And even though she hadn’t written it (Kara had gratefully taken the reins on that one), she’d still worked hard on it, taking pride like every other aspect of her work.

Alex had had quite enough.

She took a step forward, getting into Snapper’s personal space, and gave him the hardest stare Kara’s face could muster. Snapper’s eye twitched.

“I guess you will,’ Alex said cooly. ‘Have a good night. _Boss_.”

Snapper looked like he wanted to say something else, but Alex didn’t give him the chance. She turned on her heel and stormed from the office, slamming the door behind her so hard she heard something smash.

Without a word to anyone, Alex made her way back up to the roof, changed back into the Supergirl outfit, and launched herself up into the air.

It was a relief to fly. She could see why Kara loved it so much; why, when things at the DEO were getting down on her, she would excuse herself quietly and fly out of the window and not come back for sometimes hours. The sound of air roaring in Alex’s ears drowned everything else out. It gave her space to think.

And all she could think about was Maggie.

“Get a grip, Danvers,’ Alex said to herself.

Hearing out loud in Kara’s voice, but at the same time imagining Maggie saying it to her, was enough to make her laugh.

The thought of Maggie rolling her eyes at her, with that little head tilt and smirk of hers, was enough to snap her out of it. Alex heaved a sigh, pulled up in mid-air, and changed direction to head toward City Hall.

When she landed (as softly as she could; it was so much easier to just drop out of the sky, but there were important people there and she didn’t want to give Kara a bad reputation) on the steps to City Hall, everyone turned to look. There were many police officers, all of different rank, as well as their significant others, mulling about outside.

A young officer suddenly rushed over, his hat threatening to fall off as he skidded to a halt in front of her.

“Supergirl! Hello!’ he breathed, and gave her a quick salute. ‘I’m Officer Ramirez, I’ve been asked to show you inside. The Mayor wanted to have a word with you before we being the ceremony.”

Alex allowed herself to be led through to the entrance hall. There were a few more people standing about, all dressed impeccably. She felt a little out of place in her outfit; there were still scorchmarks on her boots from the forest fire, and she was sure there was cat hair on her too. But no-one looked down their nose at her. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Alex looked around for two familiar faces, but as she absentmindedly followed the young officer through the hall, another familiar face caught her eye.

The Mayor was deep in conversation as they approached. Officer Ramirez timidly announced their arrival with a tap on the Mayor’s shoulder. The Mayor turned, and shook Alex’s hand.

“Supergirl, thank you so much for coming. You, of course, know Miss Luthor?’

Lena was smirking at her like they had an inside joke. She held her hand out, and Alex enjoyed the feeling of Lena’s warm, dry palm in her own.

“I didn’t know you would be here, Miss Luthor,’ Alex said.

“The police department have done such excellent work protecting National City,’ Lena remarked, receiving a look of admiration from both the Mayor and Officer Ramirez, ‘and as a resident of National City I felt the need to show my support.”

“Miss Luthor has also recently become a very generous benefactor,’ the Mayor remarked, eyes sparkling.

Alex knew that if this were a cartoon, dollar signs would have flashed behind his eyes. Lena cleared her throat softly, looking slightly awkward.

“I want to do what I can for this city,’ Lena said flatly, end of discussion.

Alex couldn’t help it – her respect for Lena kicked up a notch.

Officer Ramirez coughed deliberately. “Supergirl, if you’ll come this way… the Commissioner is waiting for you.”

 

\----- 

 

Kara sat up straighter as she watched the Police Commissioner walk up to the podium, Supergirl in his wake.

She and Maggie were seated at a round table on the right side of the room. They were sharing with three other officers, and their significant others. Their entrees finished, and dirty plates taken away, they were now up to the business portion of the night.

Two officers had already received their awards. Kara had felt so humbled to hear their stories. One had managed to save six people from a bus accident, carrying them all out one by one, running back into a burning vehicle to get them all safely. The other had been shot during a hostage situation; she’d jumped in front of another police officer to take the bullet, and while she was still on crutches she had still walked up to the stage with dignity.

Kara couldn’t help but feel pride for every single officer there. She only wished she could have been where Alex was now, standing up there, ready to shake hands with all the recipients and tell them just how truly amazing she thought they were.

She caught Alex’s eye as the Commissioner gave a short introduction to Maggie’s Lieutenant. Alex gave her a small smile, and her eyebrows crinkled as she silently asked, _everything okay?_

Kara pursed her lips into a tight smile, and nodded. She then raised her eyebrows, replying with _are_ you _alright?_

Alex nodded. Her line of vision shifted slightly, and Kara knew she was glancing at Maggie, who was seated beside her.

“Did you know Supergirl would be here?’ Maggie whispered softly in her ear.

“She was asked to present,’ Kara replied.

Maggie snorted. “Next thing you know she’ll be doing kids parties.”

Kara bit her lip. She had actually attended a little boy’s fifth birthday party once. He’d written such a sweet letter, how could she not?

“Did you know Lena Luthor would be here?’ Kara asked, jerking her head. Maggie looked around.

Lena was seated at the Mayor’s table. Although her back was to her, Kara could see the outline of her square jaw; she was sitting on a slight angle, watching the podium with deep concentration.

“She’s bought the entire department new Kevlar vests,’ Maggie remarked. ‘Specially designed to withstand certain energy pulses… you know, from all these damn alien guns that keep showing up. Which is actually really cool of her to do. But I guess that sort of money is enough to buy you a seat at the best table in the house.”

Kara didn’t know Lena had done this, and made a mental note to visit her when she was back to normal and congratulate her.

“… such a dedicated officer,’ the Police Commissioner was saying, beaming at the woman standing just to the side, ‘that this award seems almost overdue. The science division of our department has become an integral part of the NCDP, and…”

The Commissioner stopped as Ramirez ran up on stage. He gave an apologetic wave to the crowd, and whispered something in the Commissioner’s ear. Kara felt Maggie stiffen beside her. In fact, the mood of the entire room shifted as the Commissioner frowned. Something was wrong.

“The precinct is under attack,’ the Commissioner said flatly.

In a great explosion of noise, chairs scraped loudly on the wooden floor as everyone got to their feet. Maggie took Kara by the crook of the elbow and immediately steered her toward the podium. In the confusion of movement, it took a moment for Kara to realise that the officers were all organizing into groups. Maggie and Kara rallied with the rest of the science department.

“We’re heading back,’ said Maggie’s Lieutenant. ‘Foster and Greaves, you’ll stay here with the civilians to ensure they all leave in a safe, orderly fashion. Sawyer, you’re coming with me.”

“Alex can help,’ Maggie insisted.

“Respectfully, Agent Danvers,’ the Lieutenant said, giving Kara a look, ‘we don’t need DEO. We are more than capable of handling some thugs with delusions of grandeur.”

“I’ll go with Detective Sawyer,’ said a familiar voice over Kara’s shoulder.

Kara whirled around. Alex was standing there, looking very serious indeed with her hands on her hips and the ‘ _S’_ emblazoned across her chest. She squeezed Kara’s shoulder, and nudged herself between Kara and Maggie.

The Lieutenant cleared her throat. “Supergirl. Yes, alright, you go with Sawyer. Agent Danvers…”

As the other officers rushed off to follow their orders, Maggie took Kara gently by the elbow and steered her toward the exit.

 “Are you going to be alright?’ Maggie asked, giving her a look.

“I’ll be fine,’ Kara gave her a reassuring smile. ‘You have to go. And Supergirl will look after you. Wont you?’

Alex, who had been hot on their heels, nodded, looking at Maggie.

Maggie glanced at Alex, then back at Kara. She curled her lip, and Kara wondered if she was going to insist she go with her. But the room was quickly emptying, and her sense of duty seemed to take over because she just gave a sigh, leant forward and gave Kara a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll call you later,’ she insisted.

“Be safe,’ Kara gave Alex a look, ‘both of you.”

Alex gestured for Maggie to follow her. But Maggie took lead, already taking long strides toward the exit. Kara only just heard Alex ask, “How do you feel about heights?”, before they disappeared.

Kara looked back around the room. It was quickly emptying, but there was still a familiar face over by the podium. Kara rolled her eyes and headed over. Didn’t she have any sense of self-preservation?

“Miss Luthor?’

Lena turned at the sound of her name, and frowned. “Agent Danvers. What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same.”

“Miss Luthor,’ a large, burly man suddenly appeared at Lena’s side, ‘you should probably be leaving now.”

“I’ll come with you.’

The words were out of Kara’s mouth before she could stop herself. Both Lena and the man looked at her in surprise.

“I’d like to make sure you get home alright.”

Lena looked surprised, but pleased.

“Excuse me,’ the man said, looking affronted, ‘I am Miss Luthor’s personal security, and…”

“And this woman has saved my life,’ Lena cut over him, looking at Kara appraisingly, ‘and I’ve seen her take down men twice her size. Agent Danvers is perfectly qualified to see me home, Nathan.”

The man, Nathan, gave Kara a sceptical look. But Kara just looked right back at him.

“So,’ Lena said, cutting through the tension, ‘if you would please bring the car around…”

“Yes, Miss Luthor.”

He hurried off after giving Kara one last look.

Lena gave Kara a small smile. “I’m in your hands, Agent.”


	5. Chapter 5

Alex looked down. The flashing blue and red lights of police cruisers were still two blocks from the station, but were hurtling around corners, catching up fast.

“I’ll put you well back,’ Alex called over the wind.

Maggie looked around at her. Alex tried not to react. Much to Maggie’s embarrassment, Alex had picked her up “damsel style”, with one arm under her knees, and the other around her waist. Maggie’s grip, which had tightened the second their feet had left the ground, had only barely loosened – not that Alex cared. But when Maggie turned to look at her, it brought their faces very close together.

“What are you going to do?’ she asked.

“I’m going to land on the roof, and…”

“I’m coming with you.”

“You are not. It’s too dangerous. You need to stay well back with the rest of the police department and let me handle it.”

Maggie leant back slightly, looking shocked. “Supergirl, I know you’re an indestructible badass, but this is _my_ station, and I am a police officer. This is my job. And if you think you’re just gonna dump me somewhere instead of letting me help you, then you can forget it. I’m coming with you.”

Alex clenched her jaw, and landed roughly on the roof of the station. She put Maggie down gently; Maggie staggered, her legs like jelly.

“You’re so _stubborn_ ,’ Alex huffed.

“So they say.”

Alex watched Maggie put her hair up in a bun, loosen her tie and top button, and roll up her sleeves before she remembered herself. She looked down at the concrete beneath her, and focused. She could see through the six floors; desks and papers, computers, interrogation rooms, an armoury and break rooms all flashed before her eyes.

“Can you see anything?’ Maggie asked, crossing over to her.

“Three officers, locked in an office, one guard standing by the door,’ Alex’s counted the remaining figured still walking the halls. ‘I count thirteen hostiles.”

“Armed?’

“Some with shotguns, one or two with pistols, but most have semi-automatics.”

At the sound of clicks, Alex looked around as Maggie released the magazine from her glock, checked it was loaded, pushed it back into place and cocked the gun with a soft _chick-chick._

“Your x-ray vision is going to make this way too easy,’ Maggie smirked. ‘I almost feel sorry for them.”

“Just…’ Alex put a hand out, pulling Maggie to a stop as she made for the door, ‘… let me go first, okay? You’re not wearing Kevlar under your shirt.”

“How do you know what’s under my shirt?’

Alex cleared her throat. “I… I couldn’t’ feel… when I was carrying you… look, just stay back, alright?”

Maggie frowned at her, but said nothing more, and Alex took advantage of the moment to rip the door open.

They descended silently down the stairwell, Maggie hot on her heels, gun up and ready. Alex tried to make Kara’s frame as big as possible. She was sure she would hear or see anyone coming in time, but still she was still getting the hang of all this, and if something was going to happen she wanted it to happen to her sister’s bullet-proof body first.

On the next floor down, Alex held a hand out, instructing Maggie to stop. She opened the door quietly and crept out. Down the end of the hall there were two men with shotguns over their shoulders, talking softly.

Alex squinted, trying to hear. And then, all at once, it was like someone turned the sound way up.

“… think we’ll be here?’ said one.

“Hopefully not too long,’ grumbled the other. ‘The evidence room isn't that big. But there's no way the cops aren’t on their way back here right now. Sooner we find it, the sooner we can get out of here.”

“Okay,’ Maggie breathed in her ear, and Alex had to focus again to get her hearing back to normal. ‘There’s another way around these two, down that hallway. We can…”

Alex didn’t hear the rest. She dashed forward at a speed that surprised herself. In a split second, she was behind the two thugs. They didn’t even have time to register what had happened when Alex took both their shotguns and tied them together in a knot.

The two men whirled around, and one swung his fist around while the other ran for it. Alex caught the punch in her hand, and the man cried out in pain. She felt someone run past her, and heard a commotion somewhere far away, but barely noticed. The man had dropped to his knees in front of her, and Alex raised her fist to knock him out… but hesitated. If she punched him she could kill him, and she didn’t quite trust herself to do it softly.

 _Smack_.

The butt of Maggie’s gun slammed into the side of the man’s head, and he collapsed in an unconscious heap.

Maggie straightened up, panting. Behind her, Alex could see the crumbled heap of the other man just by the stairwell, his hands cuffed behind his back.

“Nice work,’ said Alex. ‘We can take them all out, and have them locked up by the time the rest of the NCPD get in here.”

“Two down,’ Maggie smirked. “Where to next?’

Alex did a quick scan, and then pointed. “This way.”

They made their way down two more floors, taking out four more hostiles with ease. Alex’s speed, and Maggie’s ability to punch as hard as she could, proved to be very effective combination.

When they reached the interrogation room, where the officers were being held hostage, Alex looked through the wall again. There were two guards now, both with semi-automatics cradled in the arms. Two of the officers inside were huddled around the third. Alex could see now that they were all injured, and the third officer was the worst. They had obviously put up a fight.

“They’re okay,’ Alex answered Maggie’s silent question, ‘but we need to get them out of here.”

Maggie put a hand on Alex arm as she made to move around the corner.

“I can take these guys,’ she muttered. ‘You get the hostages.”

“Maggie, wait…”

It was Maggie turn to act first and ask questions later. Alex followed her as Maggie stepped around the corner, and swiftly kicked at the knee of the closest thug. He went down with a cry, dropping his weapon. But his grunt of pain attracted the attention of his counterpart.

It was like slow motion. Alex watched as the hostile raised his gun at Maggie, rage on his face. The gun fired with a loud bang, and Alex saw the bullets zoom slowly toward Maggie, who was still wrestling the other guy to the ground.

 _Whoosh_.

Alex threw herself in front of Maggie, blocking her with her torso, arms, and cape. The bullets ricocheted loudly off her chest, sending the bullets flying in every direction. The glass of the interrogation room smashed, sending shards of glass everywhere; the plaster on the walls chipped off. Alex almost laughed; it felt like someone was throwing gravel at her.

When the clip emptied, Alex squinted and sent her heat vision at the gun. It glowed as it heated up, and the man dropped it with a yelp of pain.

Alex tensed, ready to move forward and grab him, but she felt someone flick her cape aside and brush past.

Maggie ran at the man, giving him quite the punch to the gut. He cried out in pain again, but he was much bigger than Maggie was, and he swung back around at her, knocking her down.

“Maggie!”

“Get them out of here!’ Maggie snarled. She kicked out her leg, her foot finding its mark on the thug’s shin. His leg went out from under him, and Maggie took advantage of his imbalance to get up on her knees and hit him again.

Duty snapped her back to reality. Alex pushed the locked, wooden door open like it was nothing but cardboard. The officers inside all looked up at her in surprise and relief.

“He’s been shot,’ said the first officer. Alex saw that her hand was pressing against the abdomen of the officer lying in her lap; blood was seeping through. ‘We can’t stop the bleeding.”

Alex took off Kara’s cape, and wrapped the injured officer gently within it. She tore off part of the third officer’s shirt, and pressed it to the wound. All three of them looked terrible this close up. She picked the injured officer up, cradled him into her chest, and turned her back to the other two.

“Climb on.’

They looked at each other dubiously, but quickly did as they were told. Alex barely felt their weight at all.

“Hold on tight,’ she instructed.

And with a cry of surprise from all three officers, Alex zipped out of the room as fast as the bullets she’d just deflected, smashed a window open with her heat vision, and flew out the window.

The street below was filled with police cars and officers alike, all keeping a distance. Alex could hear them all chattering at once, and the buzz from radios as they tried to co-ordinate a counter attack to get back inside the station.

She placed the three officers back down on the floor softly. Other rushed over to see to them, including others who all looked at Alex in amazement.

“Supergirl, what’s ha-….?”

Alex didn’t stay to listen to the rest. She flew back upward, zoomed in through the window she’d just smashed. She landed just in time to see Maggie deliver one last punch, and knock the thug she’d been grappling with unconscious.

“Are you okay?’ Alex demanded softly, rushing over.

Maggie got to her feet with a heavy sigh. There was a cut above her eye; blood was trickling slowly down her temple. She was going to have quite the bruise on her chin too, and she was holding her right side gingerly.

“He was tough,’ she breathed.

Alex reached out, brushed the loose hair from Maggie’s face, and examined the cut. She was too stuck in medical mode, that it took her a moment to notice the look Maggie was giving her.

Kara was a little taller than Alex, which made Maggie seem just that little bit shorter. She was looking up at Alex with a slight frown, like she was trying to figure out the problem to a particularly hard equation, and Alex took her hand away quickly.

“Come on,’ she said, jerking her head. ‘They would have heard all that.”

She didn’t look back. It took a moment for Maggie’s footsteps to start following.

“We need to get down to the evidence room. I don’t know what they’re after, but whatever it is it must be pretty important to risk breaking to a police station. Not to mention there’s dozens of other things in there that could prove useful.”

“Where is it?’

“This way.’

Maggie grabbed Alex by the elbow, and steered her back up the hall toward the stairwell. They descended another two flights.

“What happened to your cape?’ Maggie asked suddenly as they re-entered the hallway.

“I wrapped a police officer in it. He’d lost a lot of blood, I thought he might be in shock.”

“How thoughtful of you.”

“Which means,’ Alex stopped suddenly; Maggie almost walked into her, ‘that you need to stay close. I can’t protect as much of you without it.”

Maggie opened her mouth to argue, but there was a loud bang from the floor underneath them. After a quick scan through the floor, Alex grabbed Maggie, literally picked her up and moved her into an open doorway.

“What are you…’

“Don’t move,’ Alex warned, pointing at her. ‘I _mean_ it.”

It was a testament to how exhausted she must have been when Maggie didn't argue. Instead, she set her jaw and leant against the door frame. Alex could feel her eyes boring into her as she turned away, but she ignored her. Three more hostiles were about to crash into the hall, and Maggie was injured, and for once she was going to do as she was god damn told.

 _Eggshells,_ Alex told herself, putting her fists up, hands at the ready. _They’re eggshells. Be gentle…_

When the men entered the room, Alex smirked and rushed at them.

The guns were knocked from their hands almost instantly. Alex elbowed one in the face, and he instantly went down in a lump of muscles and blood. The next one took a swing at her, but Alex ducked easily. She spun out on her foot and, using his own momentum, shoved him forward into the wall. The plaster cracked against him, and he staggered, dazed. The third had retrieved a fire hydrant from somewhere, and had it raised. Alex put an arm up to deflect; the metal canister crumpled against her forearm. She knocked it aside, and with a few of her expert moves she soon had that thug on the ground too.

The last one, recovered from his encounter with the wall, looked at her in fear.

Alex spread her arms out, challenging. This made him angry. He let out a cry of frustration and ran at her – a cry that was soon strangled as Alex grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up into the air. He kicked about, trying to break free. With great caution, Alex tapped him gently on the back of the head and he went slack.

As she lay him down on the floor beside his comrades, Maggie suddenly appeared beside her.

Kicking one gently with the toe of her shoe, she looked around. ‘You been training with Alex?’

Alex blinked. “What makes you say that?’

“You fight like her,’ Maggie observed, giving Alex a thoughtful look. ‘You have her style.”

This wasn’t the time to be talking about this. But Maggie was looking up at her, like she was trying to see right through her, and she just wanted Maggie to know... to _see_ her…

There was a loud crash beneath them again.

Maggie blinked. She shook off whatever it was she was thinking, and reloaded her gun.

“Come on,’ she said, cocking her gun, ‘let’s get these assholes out of my station.”

 

\----

 

Kara’s leg wouldn’t stop bouncing.

She’d tried shifting position, but it hadn’t worked. She’d tried taking deep breaths, but that hadn’t worked either. She was in a constant state of unrest, and Kara felt like Alex’s skin was prickling.

“Agent?’

Kara blinked, tore her gaze away from the car window, and looked at the woman seated across from her in the limousine.

Lena’s smile was almost enough to get her to forget the situation she was in. _Almost_.

“Sorry?’ Kara asked, shifting again. ‘Did you say something?”

“You look agitated.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just… worried.”

“About Supergirl?’ Lena sat back in her seat and looked out the window with a smug look. ‘You know as well as I do she can take care of herself.”

About Supergirl, about Alex, about herself, about the police and what was happening over at the department… where did she even begin? Kara almost shared some of these concerns with Lena, but she remembered herself just in time. Alex wasn’t friends with Lena, and wouldn’t have been so open with her.

This another time Kara wished she were herself.

Lena looked back around at her. “Your sister came to see me yesterday.”

Kara smiled. “She told me. How did the interview go?’

“The interview always goes well. She's an excellent reporter.’ Lena chuckled. She bit her lip, hesitating. ‘May I ask a personal question? Just between us.”

“Sure,’ Kara wasn’t sure she should have said this, but she was too on edge and she just wanted Lena to keep talking and keep her distracted.

And, she was curious.

“Does Kara ever… mention me?’

“Of course.”

“No, I mean…’ Lena hesitated again, and let out a sigh, seemingly deciding that there was no turning back now. ‘I consider Kara a friend. A good friend.”

And Kara suddenly understood. For someone outwardly so confident and steely, Lena was really just as soft on the inside as anyone else. Sometimes Kara thought even more so. She’d been through so much in her life, it was no wonder she put walls up. But Kara felt confident enough in believing that she’d managed to break through her barriers and seen the woman underneath. Lena just had a need to be accepted.

And she was now checking in with the person that, she knew, knew Kara the best in the entire world; to see if her feelings toward Kara were reciprocated.

Kara almost didn’t want to answer right then. She wanted to be back to herself first, and take Lena aside and rain praise down upon her until she smiled _that_ smile and told her to stop complimenting her for five minutes.

But Lena was looking at her now with a flush that seemed to deepen with every silent moment that passed.

“Kara feels the same,’ Kara said simply.

Lena’s jaw clenched. Kara recognized that look – she was resisting the urge to believe.

Kara nodded emphatically. “I know Kara better than anyone. Trust me.”

“And… you’re okay with that? I am a Luthor, after all.”

“You’ve done a lot for this city,’ Kara said, knowing that this was absolutely something Alex would say to her, were she sitting there instead of her. ‘And even though you said I saved your life, you saved mine. You’re different, Le-… Miss Luthor.”

Lena smiled, and looked bashfully down at her hands clasped in her lap. Kara pursed her lips, smothering her own smile. She liked making Lena blush like that.

 _Ping_.

Clearing her throat, Lena reached into her handbag and pulled out her tablet. She swiped at it a few times, and her brow knotted together slowly.

“Looks like the incident at the police department is being brought under control.”

Kara flung herself across the limo, and sat down next to Lena more heavily than she meant to. Lena looked in her surprise only for a moment, before tilting the tablet for them both to look at.

It was a news feed, providing live updates. The press had obviously caught wind of what was happening now, and Kara could see from the live feed that the police still hadn’t entered the building, but were instead mulling about outside. Kara wanted to ask how Lena had gotten the impression that anything was under control, when the police hadn’t even entered the building, but then the camera panned upward, and her mouth opened in shock.

“What is she _doing_?’ she hissed.

 

\-----

 

“Let me go! Please!”

“Poor choice of words,’ said Maggie, tilting her head slightly, ‘for a guy being hung off the side of a building.”

Alex smirked. She had the last very last thug they had taken down by the ankle, and was hanging him over the edge of the roof. She knew it wasn’t what Kara would have done, but he’d almost knocked Maggie unconscious, and Alex’s patience didn’t extend as far as her sister.

After taking out the last few gang members, finding them just outside of the evidence lock-up with empty hands and disgruntled expressions that meant they had not found what they were looking for, Maggie and Alex had acted quickly. Alex had tried to take them all out by herself, and had had quickly managed to subdue five of the six remaining men. But Maggie wasn't one to stand aside, and had charged at the biggest one there - the man she currently had suspended eight floors in the air. 

They'd wanted answers, and this one was the lucky one chosen to tell them everything.

“Now, for the last time,’ Maggie put her hands on her hips, ‘who do you work for?”

“I can’t tell you!’ the man cried, arms flailing. ‘He’ll kill me!”

“I’m pretty sure a fall from this height will kill you,’ Alex jeered, giving him a little shake.

“Ah! Okay! _Okay_!’ he waved his hands madly. The blood was rushing to his head, giving his head a swollen appearance, exaggerated by the flashing red and blue lights coming from the street below. ‘No job is worth this. But I want protection or something! Take me into custody!”

Maggie folded her arms over her chest. “Done.”

Alex slowly brought him back over the ledge, and set him back down safe and sound at Maggie’s feet. He quivered as he tried to sit himself up.

Maggie squatted down in front of him, sitting on her haunches. “Talk fast. Or my friend here is going to have to help you get chatty again.”

As he talked, confessing who had sent him and his gang into the station and what they were after, Alex jumped over the side of the building and floated down to give the all clear for the officers to come inside. And they did, in a flood of black and blue, and the sound of handcuffs clicking and guns being cocked.

“Supergirl! Over here!”

Alex sighed as she spotted the news cameras. She didn’t descend, knowing that if she did she was going to be bombarded.

“Everything is under control,’ she shouted, putting a hand up to sate them. ‘I’m sure the police will release a statement of what happened here tonight when they’re ready. Just know that this incident has now been resolved.”

When Alex landed back on the roof, Maggie and the thug were no longer alone. Four more officers had made their way up, and were now escorting the man downstairs in handcuffs.

Maggie let out a long, tired sigh once they were alone, and rubbed her side again. “That’s gonna be one hell of a bruise.”

“You need to see a doctor.”

“Only thing I need to see is my bed. _Hmm_ …’ Maggie groaned in pain again, and sat down heavily on the ground.

“Maggie please, let me fly you down…”

“ _No_ ,’ Maggie laughed. ‘No more flying, for God’s sake. Just give me a minute.”

Alex sighed and, conceding defeat, sat down next to her. “You were amazing.”

“Doesn’t feel that way,’ Maggie smiled, looking up at the night sky. ‘But thank you. You were a big help.”

“So…’ Alex changed the subject, trying not to look pleased, ‘what did he say?’

Maggie lay down on her back, and took a few slow, deep breaths. “Not sure if Alex told you, but there’s this case we’ve been working on, with an Alien who was in an accident…”

“I know about the case.”

“Oh. Good. Well, turns out these guys tonight were after that device the Alien John Doe was found with. The Alien… a Liberian, right?... well, he worked for them. Their boss, Marcus Hackstock, is a pretty bad guy who’s got priors in dealing in drugs and other black market transactions. But apparently he’s recently taken over an alien black market. Sells weapons and food and other stuff on the down low. The Liberian got jumpy once he figured out what the device did and high-tailed it. Must be pretty valuable, whatever it does.”

Alex’s head was spinning. What would this device have unleashed in the wrong hands? She almost laughed. What had It done in the _right_ hands?

Maggie sat up suddenly.

“Whoa, easy,’ Alex soothed. ‘Slowly. What are you doing?’

“Calling Alex,’ Maggie reached for her phone. ‘I need to talk to her… tell her about what’s just happened…”

“No,’ Alex shook her head, helping Maggie to her feet. ‘I’ll just go…”

“Look, no offence, I know you’re quick,’ Maggie began dialing, ‘but you’re not faster than a phone call. If you need to head back to the DEO then that’s cool, I can take it from here.”

Alex snatched the phone out of Maggie’s hand before she could lift it to her ear, and hung up.

“What the hell…?’ she demanded, holding her hand out for her phone back.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I need to call Alex.”

She hesitated, and then said, ‘I _am_ Alex.”

Maggie rocked back a little, a frown knotting her brow together instantly. "What are you talking about?'

Alex just stood there, waiting for it. Any moment now…

After what seemed an eternity, Maggie’s eyes widened, and she stepped right back into Alex’s face. Her eyes searched, and Alex tried to show herself from behind blue eyes and blonde hair.

“Holy crap,’ Maggie whispered. ‘Is this… is this for real?’

Alex pursed her lips slightly and shrugged, and Maggie’s eyes widened even more.

“It _is_ you!’ she let out a short, shocked laugh. ‘I knew it! I _knew_ something was off about you! You even walk like Alex. And since when does Supergirl know anything about guns? And when you tossed that guy over your shoulder, that’s a classic ‘using their weight against them’ move, and Supergirl can lift a truck on her shoulders, why would she ever…”

Maggie was rambling, unloading her suspicions and deductions, and Alex (who would muse later that it had actually been a miracle that she and Kara had managed to even hide it from her for as long as they did) had never found anything more adorable.

“… didn’t think she knew how to dismantle an uzi. Unless you guys gave her weapons training but… _Alex_ ,’

Maggie tried her name out, and Alex wanted to cry with relief. She could _see_ her. 

She reached out and poked Alex's cheek experimentally. "How are you doing that? Is it some sort of weird alien disguise thing? But you flew. You _flew_!”

“It was the device,’ Alex explained. ‘The one we found at the crime scene. It made us switch bodies.”

“Switch…’ Maggie blinked, realization crossing her features. “Wait, so you mean I’ve had Supergirl with me the whole time? In your body?’

Alex gritted her teeth and nodded. “Uhyeahactually.”

“Oh my god,’ Maggie rubbed her eyes, and winced when she touched the cut above her eye. ‘How long have you been like this?’

“Yesterday.”

“But I went to your apartment. And…’

A look of horror crossed Maggie’s face. Alex took her softly by the upper arms.

“It’s okay,’ Alex soothed. ‘I know.”

“I’m such an idiot.”

“No, you’re not. I’m sorry. This wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

Suddenly, Maggie shoved her. Alex didn’t move an inch, but Maggie ricocheted back with a stagger; she cried out in pain and recoiled

“Oh my god,’ Alex reached out. ‘Are you okay? Why did you do that?’

“What the hell were you thinking? Were you just not going to tell me that you’re Supergirl?’ she demanded, and winced again. ‘ _Damn it_ , you’re strong…”

“The device burns out after each use, but recharges after forty-eight hours. Tomorrow morning, we’re going to switch back. It was all meant to just be this weird thing that happened to us that one time. I didn’t think it would get this… complicated.”

Maggie flicked her hands, trying to get the feeling back into them, and gave Alex a look that she couldn’t quite decipher.

“You’re mad,’ Alex said flatly.

“I’m _annoyed_ ,’ Maggie clarified, and then added with a smirk, ‘but, I mean, Danvers… you blew a hole in a window with your _eyes_.”

Alex laughed. “You’d be surprised how hard it is to do that.”

Maggie’s brown eyes searched her again, looking her up and down from the top of her head to the toes of her big, red boots.

"This is weird." 

"You're telling me,' Alex chuckled, running a hand through her hair. 'I'm blonde." 

"That's the first thing you think of? You're _blonde_?' Maggie rolled her eyes with a smile. “How does it feel? Being her.’ She asked.

“It’s… it’s okay.”

“Liar.”

Alex laughed, feeling relief for what felt like the first time in days. She reached out, and was relieved when Maggie didn’t push her away. Alex pulled her in for a hug, and it wasn’t like their usual hugs, where they would melt against each other, but Alex didn’t mind. It was better than nothing, and it energized her like a shot of adrenaline.

“ _Ow_ ,’

“Sorry!’ Alex let Maggie go. ‘I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget…”

“It’s alright,’ Maggie rubbed her shoulders with a smile. ‘I’ll just add it to the collection.”

Alex sighed, and brushed hair out of Maggie’s eyes again. “Can I please get you to a doctor now?”

“As long as you let me walk. You don’t need to pick me up like a princess every time we need to go somewhere.”

“You should probably stop acting like one then.”

“Danvers,’ Maggie growled.

Alex let her lead the way back toward the door, unable to keep the grin from her face.


	6. Chapter 6

Kara shoved the key in the lock. It took her a few tries to get it to turn; when she finally got the door open, she almost fell into Alex’s apartment.

Alex was sitting at the counter, still in the Supergirl outfit, and just snorted as she watched Kara stagger inside.

“Are you okay?’ she chuckled.

Kara huffed; she blew short, brown hair out of her face, and kicked the door shut behind her. “Are _you_? What in Rao’s name were you thinking? You can’t just threaten to drop people from the roof of a building like that!”

“Is this the same lecture you gave to Mon-El? Which he deserved, don’t get me wrong, but…”

“Do have any idea what sort of repercussions this could have?’

“What,’ Alex bit back, ‘criminals becoming more afraid of Supergirl? Is that a bad thing? It’ll save you and the police and lot of time and effort if they’re too afraid to even commit a crime in the first place.”

Kara let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes.

“How did you even get back here?’ Alex asked.

“Lena sent me back in her town car,’ Kara said, waving a hand impatiently.

Alex looked like she wanted to say something about this, but instead just leant back against the bench. “Look, you have to admit, it was pretty effective.”

“So it talking!”

“He wasn’t talking,’ said a new voice, ‘that was the problem.”

Kara shut her mouth as Maggie walked into the living room from the bathroom. Her police shirt was entirely gone, revealing a white tank that was tied in a knot at her navel, exposing a toned midriff that was half bandaged up.

“Maggie,’ Kara breathed in surprise. ‘I didn’t realise you were here. Oh… your eye! Are you alright?’

Maggie smirked and swaggered over. “Better now you’re here.”

“Er…’ Kara stiffened as Maggie pulled her in, and tilted her head up for a kiss, hovering just millimetres from her lips.

She was surprised when Alex laughed.

“Maggie,’ she warned, ‘don’t tease her.”

“What…’ Kara frowned.

Maggie gave her a smug look. “Doesn’t feel great to be out of the loop, does it, _Supergirl_?’

Kara’s mouth fell open. Maggie just laughed, stepped out of her personal space, and went to collect her shirt hanging off the sofa. “I have to get back to the station.”

“Please remember to…’

“Sit down and keep hydrated, yeah yeah,’ Maggie laughed, cutting Alex off. ‘I know, I know. Text me later?’

Alex nodded. “I’ll let you know.”

With one last look of incredulity at both Danvers sisters, Maggie shook her head and left, shutting the door firmly behind her.

Kara turned back to her sister. Alex was watching her with trepidation, and Kara privately thought she should be.

“You _told_ her?’ she hissed.

“I… confirmed,’ Alex corrected. ‘Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her the big secret. She doesn’t know who you are. That’s your secret to tell. But she’s a good detective, you know. She’s not an idiot. She could tell something wasn’t right. And she was looking at me and I just…’ she sighed and threw her hands up in the air in defeat.

Kara sat down heavily on the vacant stool beside her sister, her head spinning. Alex said nothing at first, just went to the fridge, opened a beer for her with a flick of her forefinger, and handed the bottle to her. Kara took a long mouthful, and was surprised when a soft buzz went to her head.

“I’m sorry,’ Alex finally said.

“It’s okay,’ Kara reached out and took her hand, and gave it a hard squeeze, knowing it wouldn’t hurt her in the slightest. “I’m sorry I got defensive.”

“You have every right to be,’ Alex rubbed her eyes, and Kara wondered if she always got that crinkle between her eyebrows when she was tired. ‘I should have run it by your first. But I trust Maggie.”

“I know. And I’m not mad, I promise. I’m just… tired.” As she said it, Kara rolled her shoulders back, feeling that knot beginning to tie again in her back. “Are _you_ okay? I heard you took on thirteen guys by yourself.”

“Twelve,’ Alex smiled, ‘and Maggie helped. Actually, she helped a lot. But yes, I’m fine.”

Kara frowned at her. She was staring off into space as she spoke. “But…?’

Alex sighed. ‘Having these powers… doing what you can do… is incredible. It feels like nothing else. When I’m out in the field with you, sometimes I wish I could just do what you can do. It would make life so much easier. But taking out those thugs tonight… I had to try so hard not to hurt them. But then, I was thinking, it wasn’t just them. When I pulled those workers out of the ocean, or saved those people from that burning bus, or even just hugging Maggie earlier, I had to concentrate so hard on not accidently hurting them. And you have to do that all the time. It must be so _exhausting_ for you…. but you never even show it.”

Kara shrugged, feeling embarrassed. ‘I’ve had years to get used to it. You’ve only been at this for a day or so.”

“Yeah, but even still…’ Alex gave Kara a look of admiration. ‘You’re amazing, you know that?’

“No no no,’ Kara took Alex’s – her own – hands, and gave them another squeeze. ‘It’s easy to just stand there when someone’s shooting at you when you’re bulletproof, or lift a car off someone when you can bench press a million tonne. The things _you_ can do, Alex… your body goes through so much but you never let it show. You keep walking around like there’s nothing wrong, but I can feel every ache and pain and I’m so tired…’ Kara paused, and gave her sister a smile. ‘I don’t know how you do it. _You’re_ amazing.”

“I’m just human,’ Alex said simply.

Kara sighed and rubbed her eyes. “It’s hard.”

Alex laughed and pulled her in for a hug. Kara squeezed her tightly. They had avoided hugging much; Alex had insisted. She didn’t want to hurt Kara, nor did she want to deal with a bruised body when they finally switched back.

But it had been a long two days, and sometimes you just needed a hug from your sister.

“Ugh,’ Kara half-laughed, half groaned as they broke apart. ‘I can’t wait to go to bed.”

Alex grimaced. “Actually… I need to talk to you about that.”

Kara felt a sense of foreboding. “Why are you looking at me like that?’

After gesturing for her to sit down, Alex launched into what had happened at the station; how they had discovered who was behind the ambush, and what they had been after.

“Although it’s still speculation as to why they want the device,’ Alex continued, ‘we have a short window of opportunity to bring down this Ivory Knives gang for good. Maggie and I have devised a plan but it involves DEO assistance. Which means… you’re going to need to assemble a strike team.”

Dread settled in Kara’s chest. “Alex…”

“The police department can’t do this alone. They’re selling Alien contraband; this is DEO jurisdiction, but it will be much more effective to work collaboratively.”

“I’m not a leader. I can’t give orders. I can’t put people in dangerous positions…”

“Yes, you can. You can do it,’ Alex insisted. ‘I’ll walk you through it, I’ll tell you what to say, what to do.’

Kara bit her lip.

“You have to do this, Kara,’ Alex pushed gently. ‘Maggie’s going with or without us. I ne-… _we_ need to help her.”

Big blue eyes stared pleadingly at her, and Kara wondered if she was about to be on the other end of The Pout she was so famous for. But it was more than that. Alex wasn’t sulking. This wasn’t like trying to get the last slice of pizza from the box. This was important to her. This was Maggie.

With more effort that it probably should have taken, Kara got to her feet. “Pass me your phone.”

 

\----

 

“We’re in position, Agent Danvers. Awaiting your orders.’

Alex slowed to a halt, mid-air, as there was a long pause over the wire. She looked down at the cast-iron roof of the foundry beneath her, and focused her vision.

Kara was squatted down behind the fence, dressed in full tactical gear, gun cradled in her arms. She was grinding her teeth (Alex mused whether or not she always looked that way when she was focused), looking apprehensive. Six agents were behind her; the rest of the task force were spread around the perimeter, waiting for Kara to instruct them on their next move.

Maggie, who was flanking Kara, nudged her gently. Kara blinked out of her stupor and looked around. Maggie gave her a soft nod.

“Team –…’ it came out in a squeak. Kara cleared her throat and started again. ‘Team two and three, keep watch. One will infiltrate through the front, NCPD through the east entrance.”

At once, the teams did as she commanded. Alex let out the breath she had been holding.

“Supergirl?’ Kara – Alex’s voice – spoke in her ear. ‘Are you in position?”

“I’m up here,’ Alex replied, focusing her vision in on Kara and Maggie down on the ground. ‘I’ve got you. You know what to do, Agent Danvers.”

“Come on,’ Maggie nudged Kara again, and gave her another encouraging nod.

Kara squared her jaw, and adjusted the gun in her arms. “Move in.”

Alex pushed aside the swell of pride, and refocused on the task at hand. She lowered herself until touching down gently on the roof. She crouched down and focused her vision again, scoping out the layout.

“Two gunman by the entrance,’ she murmured. 

“Got it,’ came Maggie’s reply.

The team moved in, now a combination of the DEO agents and the NCPD. Maggie and Kara hung back as the agents stormed in and made quick, quiet work of the two guards at the front. The squad entered the building; Maggie took a moment to gesture to Kara, to remind her to put her gun up at the ready, before they followed the squad inside.

“Three on the left,’ Alex said.

“Team two,’ Kara commanded, her voice less shaky this time, ‘move in. Take them out.”

Slowly but surely, like ink seeping into parchment, the DEO agents and the NCPD infiltrated the building. They were swift and silent for the most part. The building was as heavily guarded as they had anticipated, but Alex’s eye in the sky was getting them through relatively easy.

“Supergirl,’

Maggie’s voice caught her attention.

“Do you have a visual on Hackstock?’

Alex glanced around again. She didn’t see him, but she did notice a blindspot – a room within that she couldn’t see through.

“Lead,’ Alex said.

“What?’

“There’s an office on the third floor that I can’t see inside, it must be lined with lead. I’m betting he’s in-…”

There was the sudden ring of gunfire. The third team were under fire.

The element of surprise was up. Alex thrust her fingers through the metal, ripped a hole in the roof and flew inside to help the team. The gang members were firing from everywhere.

“Supergirl,’ cried Kara.

“I’ll get this,’ Alex responded, swooping down on the gang. ‘Get Hackstock.”

“Er… all teams,’ Kara commanded, ‘c-converge on the third floor…”

Super speed was definitely going to be one of the powers she was going to miss the most. Alex sped around, disarming each gang member in seconds. She only had to control her strength enough to knock one out; the team descended from the rafters and had the rest under control in no time.

Alex beamed at them; her agents really were extraordinary. But they didn’t see her expression. The other team were now under fire as well, and they were already running to help. Alex coiled, ready to assist, but the yelling in her earpiece caught her attention.

“Get back! Put your hands where I can see them!”

“Hands up now!”

BANG.

 _Smash_.

Alex looked around, and saw her own body fall from the window in slow motion. She rushed forward and leapt up to catch Kara just in time.

Kara coughed, the wind knocked from her. She gripped Alex shoulders. “P-put me down. Quick. He’s getting away…”

“Are you ok-…”

“ _Put me down!”_

Alex did as she asked; she placed Kara down well out of the way, and after being told again to go, quickly flew upward. She burst through the metal roof, sending tin and shrapnel in every direction. The screech of tires caught her attention.

A black SUV was headed south. A group of agents were running along behind, Maggie leading, firing shots at the tires, sending sparks everywhere.

Alex sped off and landed hard on the road. The car didn’t have enough time to stop. Alex braced herself, and a second later the car slammed into her knees. The bonnet crumpled under the impact; the radiator blew, the windshield and mirrors smashed, sending shards of glass everywhere.

There was a moment of shock, and then the gunfire started.

She caught some, but mostly just stuck her chest out and deflected the rest. When the clips ran out, the pause between when the last bullet flew as they began to reload was when Alex put her hand under the car, and with an upward jerk, flipped the car over.

It did a backflip, and landed hard on the roof. The cries groaned out from the smashed windows, just as Maggie ran around the corner, gun up and ready.

The agents and NCPD descended on the car, while Maggie crossed over to her.

“Did you get…’

“I caught her,’ Alex nodded.

Maggie exhaled in relief. “He shot her. The bastard actually shot her, right in the chest. Thank God for the Kevlar.”

“Get off me,’ growled a voice.

Alex and Maggie looked around. A man had been pulled from the car. Three others were face down on the ground, struggling under the agents pinning them down. The one who was still on his feet was thrashing against the two officers restraining them. He had blood running from a cut above his forehead and from his nose. He glared at Maggie and Alex as the agents brought him closer.

“Mr. Hackstock,’ Maggie said, tilting her head. ‘How nice to finally meet you.”

His scowl was even uglier underneath the giant scar on his face.

“Screw you, pig,’ Marcus Hackstock growled.

And with a soft hacking sound, he then spat on Maggie.

Alex’s vision went red; her feet carried her forward before she even realised what was happening. But a hand caught her by the cape, pulling her to a stop.

Maggie shook her head at her, before turning back to Marcus. “Go check on her. I’ve got this. Mr. Hackstock, you’re under arrest. You have the right to remain silent…”

“You’ve got nothing on me!”

“… anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney…”

Alex watched for a moment as Maggie walked Marcus Hackstock away, admiring the effect of her little figure trailing along his big bulking one, before heading back inside.

Kara was sitting on a still conveyor belt, rubbing her collarbone. Two agents were standing with her; Alex recognized them as Mills and Bartlett.

“… get you to a doctor, ma’am,’ Bartlett was saying.

“I’m fine,’ Kara insisted.

“Ma’am,’ Mills began tentatively, ‘you were shot out of a window.”

“And I caught her,’ Alex said, announcing herself.

Both agents whirled around and gave her a quick salute and ‘ma’am’. Alex smiled. It was like being herself again.

“Let me make sure Agent Danvers gets the care she needs,’ Alex said kindly.

Bartlett and Mills looked at Kara.

“You’re dismissed,’ Kara sighed.

The agents nodded their respect, and hurried off.

“Are you okay?’ Alex asked, reaching out.

“I said I’m fi-… _ow_.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,’

Alex undid the vest across Kara’s chest as gently as she could. She peeled it away, and Kara let out a very short sigh, and winced again. Alex squinted, and ran her eyes across Kara’s torso, smothering the little cry of surprise at seeing her own internal organs in such detail.

Kara’s eyes widened, and she put her hands over her chest instinctively.

“Oh please,’ Alex took her hands away gently. ‘You don’t have any internal injuries. You’ll just have a giant bruise tomorrow.”

“You mean _you_ will,’

“Yeah, well…’ Alex trailed off with a shrug. Then a thought occurred to her. “How did he even get a clear shot at you? You had the gun, and you were at the back of…”

Realization hit her.

“What did you do?’ Alex sighed.

“It all happened so quick,’ Kara muttered, ensuring no one could hear them. ‘We burst into the room, and he was waiting for us, and Maggie went first… she told me to keep back… but she didn’t see…’

Dread filled Alex’s chest. She could picture it so clearly. Maggie would have told Kara to stay back, because she knew Kara was inexperienced and she would want to protect her, and not just because of the fact that she was Kara, but because she looked like Alex.

“I moved forward before I even realized,’ Kara explained. ‘It was like your body knew… and Marcus Hackstock raised his shotgun and I just leapt forward…”

“You jumped in front of a bullet… for Maggie?”

“Technically I pushed her out of the way,’ Kara chuckled nervously, ‘but yes. It was just instinct. I’m sorry, I know, you told me to be careful with your body, but I just reacted and I forgot I was you…”

“It’s okay,’ Alex looked at her earnestly, feeling more emotion well up in her chest. “You saved her. Thank you.”

Alex helped Kara down off the conveyor belt slowly. She wrapped her arm around her shoulders, and walked with her toward the exit.

“You have to call the task force out,’ Alex reminded her.

“Oh, right. Er…’ Kara put a finger to her ear. ‘All units, withdraw. Situation under control. Over and out?’

Alex smiled and shook her head.

 

\-----

 

Maggie threw a file bound with string down on the table, pulled the metal chair out with a loud scrape, and sat herself down.

“Do you know,’ she said, untying the string, ‘what’s in this file, Mr. Hackstock?”

Marcus Hackstock just glared at Maggie from the other side of the table, his hands handcuffed in front of him.

“He wouldn’t look so smug if I was in there,’ said Alex.

Kara looked around. Supergirl was standing so close to the glass, it was like she was about to press herself up against in and try to phase through.

The two of them were in the observation room, adjacent to the interview room, which is where Maggie and Marcus Hackstock were currently engaged in a very vicious stare-off. Maggie had invited them back to the station to hear the interrogation. Alex had told Kara that she should go home and rest instead, but Kara had impolitely declined.

This man had _shot_ her. And she wanted to see what happened to him.

When he still didn’t answer, Maggie pulled sheets of paper from the file and held them up.

“This is an inventory list,’ she explained, ‘we found on your hard drive. A list of alien items that you had just gotten shipped into National City, to sell at your little black market you probably didn’t think we knew about.”

“You’re not getting me to admit anything,’ Marcus growled.

“I don’t need you to admit,’ Maggie leant forward, looking smug. ‘I have enough evidence to put you away for a very long time, Mr. Hackstock. I’m not here looking for a confession. I’m here to ask you why you went to all the trouble to break into this station to steal this device…”

Maggie held up a printed photograph. Kara recognized it. Winn had sent her the picture of the device back at the DEO, which Kara had then forwarded to Maggie.

In the room now, Marcus’s mouth turned downward. “Where did you get that?’

“I could ask you the same thing,’ Maggie replied.

“Did that swine Portland turn me in?’

Maggie clicked her pen; it hovered above the notebook. “Who’s Portland.”

“Burly idiot,’ Marcus sniffed arrogantly. ‘Big fin on the back of his head… he stands out.”

“You make a habit of employing aliens?”

“Only this one.”

“And why was that?”

Marcus pursed his lips, and turned suddenly to look at the window. Kara sat back, ignoring the pain in her chest. It was like he was looking right at her, even though she knew he couldn’t really see her. It was a two-way mirror.

He turned back to Maggie, and fixed her with another glare. “So this is the part where I confess all my plans, is it?”

“It would certainly make my night go quicker,’ Maggie sat back in her seat. ‘I’ve plans, you know. Whiskey to drink, a hot girl to see…”

“Well then I suggest you text her,’ Marcus said, ‘and get settled in. Because I’m not telling you anything until I speak to my lawyer.”

Maggie gave a tight-lipped smile, closed the file and got to her feet. “I’ll just go get started on that whiskey then.”

Kara got to her feet when Maggie walked into the room. She slammed the file down on the desk like she had in the other room, but her composure was much less calm.

“Remind me about that police brutality thing,’ she grumbled. ‘That includes punching bad guys in their stupid, smug faces, right?”

“Do you want me to go in?’ Alex asked, hands already on her hips.

Maggie’s scowl cracked, and she chuckled at Alex. “It’s fine. I didn’t expect him to talk, but I figured it was worth a try. I’ll get it out of one of his goonies, make a deal.”

“You hate making deals,’ Alex reasoned.

“I also hate not knowing what’s going on,’ Maggie countered.

Kara felt a fresh bout of guilt churn in her gut, but ignored it. Maggie was already looking through other files, trying to find another potential leak out of all the men they had brought in tonight.

“You two should go home,’ she said, not looking up. ‘I’ll probably be here for a while.”

“I’ll stay,’ Alex said automatically.

Maggie glanced at her, then down at the ‘ _S’_ on her chest. “Supergirl has more important things to be doing than hanging around here. Go. This is the boring police work portion of this case. This is my job. I’ll call you when I have something. Besides,’ Maggie glanced around at Kara, ‘you look like crap.”

Kara laughed, and winced. “Thanks,’

“Thank _you_ ,’ Maggie said, giving Kara an earnest look, ‘for saving me tonight. Even though it was stupid.”

“You’re welcome?’

“I’ll take her home,’ Alex moved around and put a hand on Kara’s shoulder. ‘Let me know if you get anything.”

Maggie stepped forward, like she was about to kiss Alex on the cheek. But she seemed to think better of it; she hesitated, and then just gave Alex a smile and a promise to keep her in the loop.

Later, when Kara and Alex were flying above National City, despite the fact that Kara was exhausted and felt like she could sleep for a week, she was happy to be back up in the air.

Alex had her cradled to her chest; her eyes were darting around, and her head kept tiling left and right, and Kara knew she could probably hear so much all at once. The sun was slowly coming up, throwing splashes of red, pink and gold against the horizon.

“Can we go to my apartment? I know your place is closer to the DEO, but I need to sleep in my own bed.”

“Sure,’ Alex nodded. ‘I’ll drop you off. I think there’s a fire downtown. I’ll just go help them out real quick, then I’ll come back.”

Kara looked at her big sister, feeling admiration surface from beneath her fatigue.

“If I had to go through this with anyone,’ Kara said suddenly, ‘I’m so glad it had to be you.”

Alex looked around at her, and smiled. “Me too.”

 

\----

 

Alex woke up much earlier than Kara.

Her sister was still lying on her back, dead to the world, taking up most of the bed as usual. Alex hadn’t minded so much; she had shared a bed with Kara more times than she could count growing up. She knew Kara would always roll toward her, craving the presence of someone beside her. And normally when Alex got up before her (and she always got up before her; Kara was a night owl, and Alex liked to be up at the crack of dawn), Kara would stir and whine and tell her to come back to bed, or at least bring her breakfast.

But not this morning.

Alex only took a moment to look down at herself, sprawled out on her back, before getting dressed and flying out the window.

It was mid-morning by now. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the breeze was cool and refreshing against the blazing sun above her.

Alex flew in lazy circles, high above the skyscrapers. She focused on blocking out the chatter, the sirens, the honking horns and dogs barking. After a moment it worked, and all she could hear was the wind whooshing in her ears.

Being Supergirl had been hard. Harder than she thought. Alex had spent so much of her adolescence wishing she could do half the things her sister could do; wasted too much energy hating Kara, feeling jealous., fantasizing about what it must be like.

The past forty-eight hours had been more than enough to enlighten her.

It had taken a long time for her to move on from those feelings. To accept herself, and know that she was enough just being Alex Danvers, a regular human being. But she had accepted it. She liked her life, and her job, and her brown eyes that looked back at her every morning in the mirror, and the way her eyebrows softened when she smiled, and the sound of her voice when she gave commands to her agents, or spoke words of love to Kara.

These powers were extraordinary, but they weren’t hers. And as powerful (and enlightening) as it had been to have them, she was glad to give them back to Kara, who she knew could and would do such incredible things with them.

Well, except for flying. If she could have kept that one, she would.

It truly was amazing to soar above the city like this. Alex looked down at the streets below, trying to this moment, the way it made her feel, into her memory forever.

Alex looked at her watch. It was almost time.

She changed direction, and soared upward slightly, increasing her speed.

Just a little while longer.

 

\----

 

“Agent Danvers,’

Kara sighed. She never thought she’d miss hearing her own name so much.

She spun around; J’onn walked up to her, hands on his hips. He was frowning at her.

“Yes, sir?’ Kara asked.

“Shouldn’t you be at home, resting?’ He asked, gesturing at her torso. ‘You sustained a serious injury.”

“Yes,’ Kara nodded, ‘I just came in to finish this one thing, and then I’m heading back. There’s a tub of ice-cream and a Netflix queue with my name on it.”

It wasn’t a lie. She shared Alex’s Netflix account.

“Make sure you do,’ he leant in suddenly, his eyebrows riding a little in concern. ‘You’ve seemed a little off the past few days. Is there anything you need to talk about?”

She wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to beg his forgiveness for lying to him this whole time. She would even take a suspension from work as punishment. The way Kara felt, Alex’s body aching all over, she felt she would have been glad of the break.

Kara missed the simplicity of CatCo. And yes, it was simple. She answered phones, and printed copies, and got coffee and ran errands – all an easy routine. Being Alex had been like wearing a pair of shoes that was a size too big; it was uncomfortable. She had to concentrate constantly, trying not to trip up.

She was exhausted.

So when she shook her head and said, ‘No, sir, everything’s fine’, she wasn’t surprised when J’onn looked at her with an expression that implied that he didn’t entirely believe her.

But, ever the gentleman, J’onn was too polite to press the issue. Instead, he nodded, gave her shoulder a very quick, light squeeze and headed off down to the armoury.

Kara found Winn already in the lab. He was making small talk with Livingston, the lab assistant who had helped her with the bloodwork the day before. She was giggling, and tucked hair red hair behind her ear with a flirtatious flick of her wrist as Winn told her about some party he’d been to when he was in college.

“And you’ve never played beer pong since?’ she asked incredulously.

“I’m quite happy to remain a spectator,’ Winn grinned.

“ _Ahem_ ,’ Kara cleared her throat loudly.

Winn and Livingston both looked around in surprise. Livingston stuttered awkwardly, blushing as brightly as her hair. She excused herself, gathered up a clipboard and rushed from the lab.

“Sorry,’ Kara apologized sincerely, ‘I didn’t mean to…’

“It’s all good,’ Winn waved a hand dismissively. ‘I’ll catch up with her later in the cafeteria. Are you ready?’

Kara sat down heavily on the nearest stool. “I was ready two days ago.”

Winn fetched the device. “I gotta say, I’m impressed. You actually pulled this off.”

“I’m too sore,’ Kara growled, ‘to punch you right now.”

“You’ll feel better soon,’ Winn smiled, and then looked around curiously, ‘if you sister ever gets here. Maybe you should call her?’

“She was gone when I woke up,’ Kara pulled Alex’s phone from her pocket. ‘I thought she’d come in early, but nobody’s seen her.”

As if on cue, a flash of red and blue passed by the window. Kara let out a sigh of relief as Supergirl walked into the lab, checking over her shoulder to make sure no-one was in line of sight of the lab.

Alex jerked her head at Winn. “Are you sure it’s ready?’

Winn held the device up. There was a soft, green light flashing where there hadn’t been one before.

“Green means go,’ he said simply.

Winn placed the device gently down on the bench beside Kara, like it would explode if he moved too fast. Kara picked it up; it weighed heavier than she remembered. The metal surface was smooth underneath her fingertips.

Kara pressed her thumb to the scanner, and held it out for Alex. “Moment of truth.”

Alex let out a slow, deep breath through her lips. She held her hand out, hesitated, and then wrapped her fingers around the other end.

She made eye contact with Kara, and held it, blue locked onto brown.

Then Alex pressed her thumb to the plate.

It was that feeling again, like being pitched forward from her seat, as if she were on a rollercoaster. Kara squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself not to throw up. The room spun around her, the world tilted on an axis…

And then it was over.

Kara waited a long moment before opening her eyes. When she did, the world took a moment to come back into focus.

Alex was standing in front of her – short, brown hair, black uniform and utility belt, big brown eyes and a pretty smile.

Kara’s chest exploded with happiness. She looked down at herself; blonde hair fell around her face; her peripheral vision was coated with gold. She ran a hand over the ‘ _S’_ emblazoned on her chest. The physical relief was instant. She was no longer sore, or tired. She felt re-energized, like she’d spent hours under one of the solar lamps in the infirmary.

“Did it work?’ Winn asked quickly, loudly, unable to control himself.

Alex reached out, and Kara met her half way in a hug. She wanted to squeeze her tightly, but she knew she couldn’t, because she was Supergirl again, and Supergirl couldn’t give back-breaking hugs because it would have literally ended that way.

Besides, she knew first hand just how much pain Alex was in, and didn’t want to make it worse.

And indeed, when Kara pulled away, Alex winced.

“Yes,’ Alex nodded at Winn, ‘it’s us.”

“Here…’

Kara put a stool beside her. Alex sat down gratefully. 

“How does it feel?’ Winn asked, looking at them both curiously. ‘Anything not feel right? I timed this perfectly, it should have worked…”

“Everything’s fine,’ Kara reached out and patted him on the shoulder. ‘Thank you, Winn”

She smiled at him, and his eyes widened, and then he was grinning too.

“It _is_ you,’ was all he said.

Alex chuckled suddenly, and then winced again. “I really do need a massage, don’t I?”

Kara laughed and went to comment, when the door to the lab opened. Livingston was back, accompanied by two other lab technicians.

“I’m sorry, Agent Danvers? I know you’re about to go home, but… we need you to come look at this blood analysis.”

It took a split second longer than usual for Alex look around.

“Yes,’ she nodded, giving a small smile, ‘I’ll be there in a minute.”

After exchanging a quick look, the technicians left, looking utterly relieved.

“That’s the first time Agent Danvers hadn’t avoided them in two days,’ Kara chuckled.

“You better not have turned my lab into a shitstorm,’ Alex warned playfully.

“This is so great,’ Winn smiled, standing still as Alex put a hand on his shoulder so she could get to her feet. ‘I mean, it was hilarious seeing this all go down, but it so great to have you both back to normal. I’ve had to avoid eye contact with J’onn this entire time, ‘cause I thought he was going to read my mind and bust me for helping you. Do you know how hard it is to avoid eye contact with that man? He has such pretty eyes!”

Kara gave him a look. “I’m so glad your suffering is over, Winn.”

Winn nodded and ran a hand through his hair. “I need a drink. You both in?”

Alex gave some answer, but Kara didn’t hear what she said. She heard a siren, and birds chirping, and horns honking and traffic, and it was so sudden it made her flinch in surprise.

After focusing on one particular sound, she turned her attention back to the room. Both Alex and Winn were watching her.

“Something’s wrong,’ Kara said.

“Go,’ Alex urged.

Kara hesitated.

“I’m fine,’ Alex insisted. ‘They need you.”

“Don’t stay here all day,’ Kara asserted, giving her a stern look as she backed toward the door. ‘You need to rest. Winn…”

“I’ll make sure that she - ….’ He stopped when Alex gave him a look, ‘…er… that she does what she wants because she’s in charge. But your stern looks can’t stop me from reminding you to hydrate at least.”

Kara could hear the sirens again, this time accompanied with cries. She squared her shoulders and ran from the lab. As soon as she was in range, she shot off from the ground and zoomed out the open window at the top of the building.

The wind was in her hair, rushing in her ears, sending her cape flapping out behind her. Kara realised she would have looked like a loony to anyone else, wearing a smile so big.

She arrived at the scene all too soon. There was a four car pile-up on the entrance to the bridge, and two cars were on fire. One, Kara could see, still had people trapped inside.

“Supergirl!” someone from the crowd called, ‘the firefighters won’t get here in time! Hurry!”

Kara floated down toward the cars, and took a very long, deep breath.

 

\----

 

Alex pressed the play button, and settled further into the couch as the opening titles of “3rd Rock from the Sun” began to play.

This was one of her favourite shows. It never failed to make her laugh, no matter how many times she’d watched it. Not only was it just plain funny, but it also reminded her of some of the awkward situations Kara had gotten into when she’d first arrived on Earth.

Like the time someone had wished her luck for giving her first oral presentation in class by saying ‘Break a leg’, and it had taken all of lunch for Alex, sitting in the stall next to her, to convince Kara that it wasn’t meant to be taken literally, and that she didn’t have to hide in the girl’s bathroom all day.

Alex adjusted the angle of her laptop, so that the heat from beneath it soaked into her stomach, easing her muscles like the heat pack she had in her bathroom cabinet, but couldn’t be bothered going to get.

Ten minutes into the episode, she heard a key in the front door.

 “You know you can just come in through the window,’ she called.

The door opened. Maggie walked in, carrying a large, and very full, paper bag in her arms.

“The window? What am I, Peter Pan?’ she smiled. Maggie put the bag down on the counter, and turned to her. ‘It _is_ you, right?”

Alex smiled at her. “Yes, it’s me.”

In four, quick strides, Maggie crossed over to the couch, sat herself down beside Alex, and swooped in for a kiss.

Alex couldn’t help it; she moaned. It was better than flying, better than super speed and the ability to carry a submarine on her shoulders. Maggie’s thumb was stroking her cheek softly; she smelt like coffee and leather, and she tasted even more amazing.

“Thank god,’ Maggie murmured after they broke apart, ‘because I’ve been dying to do that ever since I saw you in that marron dress. Hmm,’ she added, a sudden thought occurring to her, ‘but it wasn’t you, was it? But it _was_ …”

“Stop,’ Alex laughed, putting a hand over hers.

Maggie groaned. “My head hurts.”

“My everything hurts.”

“I figured,’ Maggie kissed her again quickly, and leapt up from the couch. ‘Which is why I stopped by the grocery store on the way here and picked up a few things.”

Alex sat up a little and watched as Maggie reached into the bag. She pulled out a box of cookies, a giant bag of chips, four bottles of Gatorade, beef jerky, a bucket of mixed M&M’s, and a bottle of single malt whiskey.

“Oh,’ Alex crooned at the last one, ‘yes. That first. And tell me what happened after I left last night.”

Maggie poured them both a drink, and carried over the bag of chips between her teeth. Once they were both settled, Maggie started her recount.

“He didn’t talk,’ she rolled her eyes, ‘like I knew he wouldn’t. But we got lucky with one of the other guys who works for him. Turns out Hackstock had been blackmailing him, so he didn’t really mind giving us as much information as he could to help put Hackstock away.

‘Anyway, turns out Hackstock had bought that body changer device thing, from the Librerian, because the Liberian was desperate for money and it was the only thing he had left to barter with. But once he realised what Hackstock was going to do with it, he tried to buy it back. Hackstock told him to get lost, the Liberian stole it back and ran for it.”

“Which is how he ended up under the truck,’ Alex added with a nod. ‘So what did Hackstock want with it? He wanted to body swap with someone?’

“Apparently he was going to use so his goonies could force a swap with the guards of armoured cars, and security at National City Bank, and try and steal a whole lot of cash. He probably would have got away with it too. It sounds like a pretty full proof plan. Even when the guards either got caught or came forward, how would you ever prove their story?”

Alex blew air out through her lips. “Suppose that’s one good thing that came from all of this, preventing a massive crime from happening.”

Maggie looked at her then. “Yeah, well… don’t think you can get away with pulling crap like that on me ever again, Danvers.”

“I’m sorry,’ Alex said for what felt the fiftieth time.

“Relax,’ Maggie smiled, and held the bag of chips for her to take some. ‘I’m not mad. What I am, is glad to have you back to normal… even if you’re not.”

“What makes you think I’m not glad?’

“Well, for starters, you… your body… got shot out of a window. I know that sort of thing doesn’t tickle.” Maggie considered her for a long moment. ‘You need and ice pack? You should have one on your chest, it’ll help.”

Alex told her where it was, and watched as Maggie got up and went to the kitchen to fetch it. Alex’s gaze didn’t waver as she watched Maggie get an ice pack from the freezer, and put a few blocks of ice in her whiskey, all the while listening to Maggie talk about how she’d seen Alex do amazing things only the television over the past two days, and how much more impressed she was now that she knew it was actually her this whole time.

“I bet you’re going to miss being able to lift a crane,’ Maggie chuckled as she sat back down.

Maggie put a hand on Alex’s shoulder, and pushed her back slowly and softly into the sofa. Alex didn’t complain as Maggie placed the ice pack on her chest. The cold and weight was amazing, and the whiskey now going to her head was making her feel like she had when she’d been Kara – painless.

“Not really,’ Alex let her eyes close, and relaxed into the cushions on the couch.

“Are you kidding? You were _Supergirl_.”

“Being Supergirl was an incredible experience,’ Alex said, ‘but I’m happy to be back in my own body.”

“Because you like being in pain?’

“Because it means I get to have you back.”

When Maggie didn’t say anything, Alex opened one eye. Maggie was looking at her with an expression that made Alex’s chest clench.

Finally, Maggie just laughed, leant in and kissed her.

“Do you have a first aid kit nearby?’ Maggie chuckled. ‘I need a barf bag. All this mushy crap is making me nauseous…”

“Oh shut up,’ Alex sighed, and pulled her back in again.

 

\----

 

“Do you want to know one thing I noticed about being you?’

Kara looked up from the punnet of ice-cream, at her sister next to her on the couch. “Hmm?’

“You could get a date whenever the hell you wanted.”

She almost choked on her spoonful of choc-chip.

A week later, Alex all better from her injury, the two Danvers sisters were keeping up with tradition and enjoying movie night. Tonight’s choice was _Freaky Friday_ , because Kara had thought it would be hilarious, and Alex hadn’t been able to find any way to talk her out of it.

Kara swallowed hard, accepting the claps on the back from Alex. “ _Excuse me_?’

“So many people are looking at you, all the time,’ Alex explained. ‘And not in a ‘Oh, there’s Supergirl’ kind of way. All I had do was toss your hair over your shoulder and people did double takes.”

“They are not!’ Kara laughed nervously. ‘And if they are, its probably just because the suit is so eye catching. Blue is a lot of people’s favourite colour, you know.”

Alex raised her eyebrows. “Whatever you say.”

“Well,’ Kara huffed, swapping punnets with Alex, ‘want to know what I learned about you?”

“That I’m the preferred Danvers sister?’

“ _No_ …’

“That my mattress is way better than yours, because I’m not cheap and spent the extra five hundred bucks for a higher quality one?’

“There’s nothing wrong with having a budget…”

“Oh, no, I know,’ Alex pointed at her, ‘you finally know what it feels like to dress in something other than argyle.”

Kara threw her a look. “I’m trying to compliment you.”

Alex laughed, the sound muffled because of her mouth full of ice-cream. “Mkay, m’sowwy,’ she swallowed hard and turned to face Kara. ‘I’m listening. What was your realization?’

Her irritation evaporated, and as Kara remembered what she was originally going to say, she nudged Alex playfully with her elbow.

“You’re as much a superhero as I am,’ she beamed. ‘Maybe even more so. You keep up with us, no matter what. And people think I’m strong lifting trucks over my head? If they could see how strong you really are, they wouldn’t look twice at me.”

Alex sighed, put her ice-cream down on Kara’s coffee table, and pulled her in for a hug.

“I’m so glad you’re my sister,’ Kara closed her eyes and melted into her sister’s embrace. ‘I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“But I’m even more glad that this is all over.”

“Oh, my God,’ Alex half-grunted, half-laughed, and pulled away, ‘I have never been more glad of anything in my life. Never let me hand you anything ever again.”

“Except that,’ Kara wriggled her fingers at the little bucket of brownie flavoured ice-cream.

Alex sighed, and with a smile and an eye-roll, passed her the punnet.

* * *

 

                                                                                                    _The End._


End file.
